The Danger of a Bitter Spirit | Matthew 18:21

[00:00:00] We'll truth, Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to forgive other people? And how conditional we make forgiveness to be conveyed to other folks who have

[00:00:22] heard us? We often say, well, forgive them if they apologize or forgive them if they were more as full or forgive them if I think they deserve it or forgive them after a while,

[00:00:33] but surely not now. I'm too angry. What does a bitter spirit or an unforgiving spirit do to us? First of all, it alienates us from the person who's offended us and that's not good. Secondly, it frustrates the people around us who say, you know, why don't

[00:00:51] you get over this? It's in the past. Let it go. It frustrates them. You know what else it does? It imbitter us. It turns us to be angry, vengeful, spiteful people and that's not good. It depresses us as a matter of fact bitterness turned inwards is depression and

[00:01:11] a can shorten a person's life. There's nothing good that ever comes out of unforgiving spirit. Wow. Jesus knew that and the disciples didn't listen. As a matter of fact, Peter tries to put limits here on the forgiveness that we convey to other people. He says

[00:01:32] this in verse 21 and Matthew 18, then Peter came up and said to Jesus, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me? And I forgive him as many as seven times. Now, Peter thought he was being pretty magnamines here. Oh my goodness, he messes me up seven times. He

[00:01:50] lets me down seven times. He frustrates and irritates and disappoints me seven times. I'm going to forgive him seven times. Up to seven times. Look at how gracious I am. And you know

[00:02:02] what Jesus says, Jesus said him, I do not say to you seven times but seven times seven. Do you think Peter thought all on the 490 first time? I don't have to forgive. What was Jesus saying? Again he was using hyperbually here. He was saying basically every time

[00:02:21] someone offends you and disappoints you. You must, you've got to forgive. You must let it go. Now my friends, this is great advice. And I want to ask you who in your life currently are you

[00:02:34] angry at, disappointed with someone who's like you down and failed you and offended you. Are you going to continue to hang onto that bitterness into eternity? There's a motivating factor for us to forgive and you know what it is. We're going to talk much more deeply about

[00:02:51] this in the days ahead but it's called the grace of God. God is astounding mercy and amazing grace. Dispast Jesus to the cross so that every sin of our life could be forgiven,

[00:03:04] could be drowned in the sea of God's forgiveness and that's the motivating factor for us being able to forgive other people who have offended us. When Peter said how many times should I forgive? 490 times he didn't say that seven times all he said but Jesus said nope,

[00:03:21] anytime anybody offends you, disappoints you, let's you down fails you, offense you, you must forgive. Now one of the things I said earlier is sometimes it takes a while, sometimes the healing

[00:03:33] has to occur but eventually we have to let it go. There have been people in my life that are so angry and bitter about the things that have been offended to them, things that have happened

[00:03:44] to them that other people have offended them with they can't let it go and they just hang on to it and rehearse it in their mind and it abitters everybody around them and frustrates everybody around them.

[00:03:56] There is a better way to live. You can either choose to be bitter or better and the grace of God moves us to do the latter. So that is today's daily truth I hope this was

[00:04:12] helpful and if you want to run this again right down some of the things I've said, I had to write it down so I could memorize it and you know what folks when I share these messages

[00:04:23] I'm preaching and teaching primarily to me. Because I need what the word of God has to say today, have a great day in Christ and that is today's daily truth. Thank you for tuning in to daily truths

[00:04:38] with Dave Olman. Pastor Dave Olman is the pastor of Mount Holt Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you feel led would you consider giving to this ministry your tax deductible donation helps us continue sharing the gospel with as many people as possible. Simply click the link in the description

[00:04:55] below so come back tomorrow for your next daily truth.