Walking with the Lord is not easy. It takes sacrifice. It takes self control. My husband recently said that the bible is a book of testimonies. He followed by saying that we are just adding ours to the book. I look at the miraculous things that the people in the bible accomplished. For any of them to do what they did it took self control. It took setting their mind. Colossians 3:2 says "Set your minds on things that are above, not on the things that are on earth." Setting your mind comes from the Greek word phroneo which means I have understanding, to think, I direct the mind to, seek for, I observe, I care for.
Matthew Henry's commentary on the this subject says this, As Christians freed from ceremonial law, they must walk more closely with God in gospel obedience. As heaven and earth are contrary on to the other both can not be followed together; and affection to one will weaken and abate the other. Who you are as a person, in your soul, is determined by you alone. By which direction you place your mind toward. Each of us will go one way or another depending on our own will power. We will stay stagnant in our relationship with God and in life, or completely decline because one negative decision piles up one after another. This can lead you down a road that you would never have wanted to go. I'm not just speaking of a drug addicted road. I'm talking about living a life of hate and bitterness, and malice. These come from roots that were once just a seed that each of us can allow to get into our minds and heart. They then get saturated in our life, and that take on a fruit. The fruit is not a fruit that is pleasant though.
I'm writing this to myself. I saying from experience. So, this week I found out something that made me extremely, extremely frustrated. I will not go into any details. I will say that my face and neck turned super red and blotchy because I was frustrated. I stayed frustrated for a half a day then I started telling myself nope I'm not going to do this. I will be honest I started thinking and analyzing the matter more. That frustration stayed for two days, at least. People told me I had a right to be frustrated.
Yes, with the principle behind the matter, I did. I could feel this frustration that I allowed to start seeping down into my soul. When I say soul, I mean my mind, will, and emotions.
I have kept my emotions in at bay for the most part for a long time. This incident caused my mind to not think straight at work. I could feel the fruit of the agitation coming out on my face and with others. I started thinking, yes I have a right to be frustrated. What people don't remind you though, is that that frustration leads to so much more.
In my past I have gotten frustrated. I have gotten bitter. I said I was fine but deep down, I was in complete at rage and bitter. What I allowed in as frustration, stayed put inside of me. It didn't move. Though I tried to give it to God, it stayed. It became a very unpleasant fruit.
It is ok to go to God and tell him you are not happy with a situation. It is ok to have a friend that you feel free to say what you are feeling. Make sure the friend is one that brings you back to a level mind, instead of adding fuel to the fire. Thankfully I have been in the Word of God quite a bit and have been full of the Word of God quite a bit. This has allowed the Spirit of God to be strengthened instead of weakened.
I was able to catch it pretty fast before I let those feelings and thought stay stagnant in me. Do you know what stagnation causes. I fowl smell. People notice it. It cause what the word bitter in the Strong Concordance (Pikros) is defined as malignant. This is quite interesting to me. Malignant can be defined as Malevant. This means having or showing a wish to do evil to others. Malignant can also mean an infectious disease. So a thought that of resentfulness or frustration if not captured and taken care of can literally be like an infectious disease.
Setting your mind on the things of God helps you. Learning who God is and who you are in Him helps you. It has helped me take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. (See 2 Corinthians 10:5) I haven't got great at this. Like I said it took me a day or two to process and get a grip. The fact is though because I am learning about who I am in God, and the great possibilities that come through him, it didn't take me as long. I've learned that I don't need to be perfect at this, but that God sees my heart and sees I'm working toward being bettering at setting my mind and capturing these thoughts. He sees that I don't want to have a bitter heart. That I don't want bad for anyone.
If you are in a state of bitterness at the moment the first step is to recognize that you may need a heart change. Dwelling on the wrong doing intensifies the bitterness. Dwelling on the healer, the Lord and His Word, is where you start. It cleanses it. It puts bitterness in the face of the love. The more you put both face to face and recognize that love is more freeing then holding onto things that only God can use for greater, the weaker bitterness and whatever you are feeling gets. Some things take time, and I believe that God's grace is so sufficient that he understands the time that you need. He will heal you.
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