Bitterness Diagnosis

Unforgiveness and bitterness imprisons you from the inside. You may have heard of arteriosclerosis--"the hardening of the arteries"--which involves the hardening, thickening and the loss of elasticity in the walls of blood vessels. The disease develops over many years and results chiefly from the accumulation of fatty materials like cholesterol in the walls of the arteries. The smooth lining of the arteries become hard, narrow, and/or rough decreasing the flow of blood to the brain, the heart and limbs.


Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, it is possible to suffer a non-physical arteriosclerosis--a spiritual hardening of the arteries--where obstruction comes gradually. Resentment rises up and bitterness builds up--eventuating in a spiritual stroke. You become weak, paralyzed, immobile. The flow of friendship and the links of love are blocked. Both your head and heart are affected.

You need nothing short of a surgeon's knife--a spiritual by-pass surgery--to control the problem. And major surgery is always radical, but the divine doctor can make it a success.

Bitterness

One of the major causes of human pain is the pain of not forgiving.

"It has been three years, and I have not forgiven my brother. I never will," she burst out in anger. "If I ever get a chance, I will repay him for what he has done. And nobody will ever stop me" remarked another bitter man about his previous employer. "How many time can I taker her/him back?" She says she is sorry; and then comes back and does the same thing to me.


Bitterness is a problem of life, for we humans have an incredible capacity to wound others in the human species. I don't need to prove that we use this capacity to the fullest extent. In the human community, it does not take long to injure another. No human interaction is possible without the accompanying possibilities of pain, suffering, injury and alienation.

Let me ask you, who is at the other end of your resentment?

Meaning

If you want purpose in life, you must have a destination in mind.

The Air Show is a useful feature in international travel. It used to be that only the pilot would give you a quick verbal chart of the trip. Now, a world map on the monitors tracks your journey--from start to finish. The monitors give the following information:

Distance to destination
Time to Destination
Local time at Destination
Ground Speed
Altitude
Outside Temperature

Without a destination in mind, the first three features would be impossible--there would no distance left, time left, or local time to destination. The next three would be meaningless. It really doesn't matter at what speed, what height you travel, what the outside temperature is, if you are not going any place.

Yet your life seems to be a saga of all dressed up and no place to go. You know your ground speed, your altitude, and the outside temperature, but how long can you keep the plane flying?

Despair

We have talked about many prisons in which mankind feels caught, which engulf human beings, and sequester us. Perhaps, there is no human bondage which so overwhelms us that we feel in it in our bones as despair.
Despair is when we give up hope in life. When we don't see tomorrow as even plausibly better than today, when a motivation to live ceases.

I am not speaking here about depression. I am not speaking about anxiety. I speak about despair. When death seems more inviting than life, you are despairing.

Human despair arises in the lack of pattern, coherence, or meaning in life. Human despair also arises in the lack of guidance and hope. When there is nothing to ultimately look forward to except what is predictable, observable, and inevitable, there is despair. Left to ourselves, all we can look toward is aging, sickness, and death.

Well, the good news is you don’t have to be left to yourself.