Ah...the summer vacation! The favorite summertime ritual for countless West Virginia families is the annual beach vacation, where thousands pack family sedans or mini-vans, leave the West Virginia hills, and cheerily travel to their favorite beach in the Carolinas , Georgia or Florida ; happy families heading south, to family fun, dark suntans, good food and long anticipated relaxation.

If you've recently been one of those vacation travelers, perhaps when glancing out your car window you might have seen an ugly sight. You probably noticed a  crawling menace known as Kudzu; a dreaded, creeping, giant ubiquitous vine  that seems to be taking over the southern countryside.  Kudzu is a broad leaved,  spreading vine that is capable of overcoming and smothering even the hardiest  forests having the tallest trees, by covering vast woodland acres in a green, choking canopy that kills everything in its treacherous path.

Now, if you check your Bible dictionary or concordance, you won't find a single reference verse under "Kudzu". However when the nature and effects of this menacing pest are examined, we can see a picture lesson of a major spiritual enemy of Christians.

                                                         Bitterness

Bitterness is that lingering, gnawing emotion that takes up residence within a person when that person feels harmed or hurt by another. I refer to the person who bears that bitterness as a "carrier" who drags along and transports bitterness, and allows bitterness a fertile place to grow. Residing in the rear compartments of the carriers' memory, bitterness breaks through at just the right chance to cause misery for both the bitter person and those people around him or her. I'm convinced that unresolved bitterness can be a controlling power in people's lives, their decisions and their life responses. Unresolved bitterness never goes away on its own; it festers, grows and if left neglected, can smother the carrier just as forcefully as Kudzu smothers a tall oak tree. So bitterness can be a shadow enemy that lifts up its ugly head to starve spiritual growth from even mature Christians.

Like Kudzu, unrestrained bitterness chokes out the good things within a Christian and can dry-up the carrier to a lonely existence in a wilderness of resentment. Botanists claim that Kudzu grows at an amazing two feet per day, and unfortunately, unchecked bitterness can grow just as rapidly. As bitterness grows, the bitter person finds himself thinking chronic negative thoughts toward the perceived source of bitterness, (usually a person), and this bitterness spills over into other relationships or life experiences. A bitter person feels that he/she is a victim, and professed victims usually look around for people to aim anger and spite toward. Regrettably these bitterness carriers become embittered people, habitually reliving the injustice or perceived harm in their minds, and spreading bitterness in their life paths.

                                                    A Biblical Example:

A classic Biblical picture of bitterness can be seen in the person of King Saul. During the last years of King Saul's life, he was a man ravaged by bitterness. This once promising King of Israel was now reduced to a pitiful character, controlled by bitterness, and wrecked by a series of life mistakes. His thoughts were bitter thoughts and his actions were bitter actions. His great potential now far behind him, Saul's life was a disaster, and a ruined product of sinful actions and errant decisions. He was now reduced to a weak, spiritually deprived, chronically suspicious and bitter man.

Saul's bad choices left ugly scars and wrecked debris in their path. His jealousy and hatred toward David weren't lessened even when David twice spared King Saul's life. Saul lived in the darkness of bitterness, and there was a tidal wave of evil that flooded his soul. His rejection of good hit rock bottom when he was found consulting a medium, (an ancient psychic); an act that directly violated God's law.  Sadly, Saul's life ends in a brutal and suicidal event; a shell of a shattered man who had once possessed  God's blessings, rather than bitterness, as the driving force in his life.

                                             The Right Example of David:

David stands in stark contrast to Saul. Despite being the target of a series of wicked attempts on his life by Saul, David refused to become bitter. He demonstrates to us those actions that we should take toward a bitter person: Patience, Mercy and Restraint. You see David understood the right response for a man of God, practicing the truth, even during his hours of defeat, and refusing to fall into the snares of bitterness.

                                         Getting Bitterness at The Root:

Bitterness, like Kudzu, once planted, can take root and spread quickly. The follower of Christ needs to understand this reality and be prepared to reject bitterness as a life option. Here's how the writer of Hebrews states it:

"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble." Heb 12:14-15b (italics mine)

Therefore dear reader,  if bitterness lingers in your heart or mind, turn it over to God by confessing it and stopping it at the root, before it creeps into your life as a Kudzu-like enemy.

Bill Tanzey

©2002 Bible Center Church

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