WHAT KIND OF CHOCOLATE ARE YOU?

This year marked the 27^th Valentine’s Day Richard and I have celebrated together.  It’s tradition for my wonderful husband to spoil our daughters and me with the most amazing homemade gourmet chocolate.  We discovered this quaint little chocolate factory on a road trip one time and decided it would be fun to stop and check the place out.  To our excitement, we were allowed to indulge ourselves in a sample feast full of various splendid types of specialized chocolates but it was hard to narrow down my favorite.

We learned that day that there are basically two major types of chocolate, sweet and tender milk chocolate and a darker, more bitter chocolate.  The correlation between the two types of chocolate

and the condition of our spiritual heart seemed to jump out at me.  I pray as you read my post today that you can determine what kind of chocolate your heart resembles.  Is your heart soft and sweet or hard and bitter?

I’m not trying to knock those who enjoy dark bitter chocolate, but spiritually speaking bitterness is not enjoyable at all.  I know personally how destructive the consequences of unforgiveness can be.  For decades I suffered greatly and was trapped and tormented with the heavy chains of bitterness wrapped tightly around my neck.   

What exactly is bitterness and what does God say about it?  Bitterness doesn’t occur only when we choose not to forgive our offenders, we can become bitter toward God when we refuse to accept what He has chosen to allow in our lives.   As Hebrews 12:15 states, bitterness is “resisting God’s grace” in our lives because we do not trust in His sovereign purposes in allowing hurts and offenses to happen.  We question if God has our best interests at heart and refuse to see things from His eternal perspective.

God commands us to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you" (Ephesians 4:31,32).  If we are controlled by bitterness, anger and hatred we will not be showing the genuine love, kindness, compassion and forgiveness of Christ to others.  So how do we rid ourselves of these horrible sins?  It’s only made possible because of the example of Jesus.

 I Peter 2:21-23 “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us and example, that you should follow His steps:  Who committed NO sin… they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly"   We must not retaliate but forgive, fully entrusting our situation to God who is the judge.(Romans 2:19) He will always work the situation we are going through together for His glory and our good.  We can be assured that God will do a far better job humbling our offender than we ever could.

Although Jesus was sinless and innocent of any crime, he was scourged, mocked, bruised, spit on and beaten beyond recognition on the road to Calvary. We will never experience that kind of suffering in our lifetime.  Christ chose to hang on the cross to suffer and die in the place of the very people who hated Him and prayed, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”Luke 23:34.  Christ knew that those people were blinded by their sin.  He died to offer salvation freely to those who humble themselves and ask forgiveness of their sin. Jesus willingly endured the pain of Calvary to offer His offenders the free gift of eternal life.  No matter what, we must follow Jesus’ example to forgive and love our accusers as He did.

What are the consequences of allowing bitterness into our hearts?

--1) God will not forgive us for our sin. Matt. 6:14-15 “…For if you do not forgive others of their sins, your heavenly Father will not forgive you of your sins.”

--2) God won't hear our prayers. Ps. 66:18“If I regard iniquity in my heart, God will not hear me.”

--3) Our conscience will condemn us with guilt until we confess our sin of bitterness.  (Romans 2:15)   “Who show the work of God’s law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness…their thoughts accusing or excusing them.”   God’s law is written in our hearts, guilt comes when we do not forgive even though we know we should.

 -4) Choosing not to forgive will ruin our relationships with spouses, children, friends, family and most importantly with God.  

--5) We will be kept from accomplishing God’s plan for us to enjoy an abundant life. (John 10:10) “The thief (Satan) has only come to kill, steal and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.” 

  Here are some questions to determine if the root of bitterness has taken hold in your heart: (Unforgiving people don’t usually regard themselves as bitter at all)

---Am I easily offended or hurt by others?

---Do I have a hard time forgiving people who offend me or deeply resent them?

---Do I feel sometimes like life is just not fair and at times question God for allowing circumstances into my life or in the life of my loved ones?

---Do I believe that I’ll change my offender’s behavior by not extending forgiveness?

---Do I often replay hurts over and over in my mind?

---Would I secretly enjoy seeking revenge?

---Do I believe that there’s a limit on how far I should extend forgiveness?

---Do I merely say “I forgive” from my mind instead of truly forgiving from my heart?

Does your heart better resemble sweet or bitter chocolate?  If you’ve identified some bitterness through the questions above, I beg you to seek the Lord and confess it all to Him.  Jesus’ blood is powerful enough to cover any sin imaginable.  Once our heart is transformed from bitter to sweet through confession and forgiveness, we will experience the peace, joy and blessing we’ve been searching for that only God can give.