Bitter Root

Hebrews 12:20




See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.


Devotion


Recently I was on a youth retreat and two teenagers were having difficulty getting along. As one of the teens was explaining to several adult leaders about many of the events that had happened during the week, I began to recognize several destructive things at work. There was a tree forming, from the bitter root that was filled with anger, gossip, lies, deception and misconceptions. What started out to be a disagreement between two teenagers was now affecting many people. As each of them told their stories to friends at school and within the youth group, there appeared to be opposing teams of people building. The bitter root was causing trouble and affecting many people's lives.


Although feelings of anger and rejection are very real and hard to deal with at times, we must choose to do the right things in these types of situations. Most importantly, we must zip our lips and NOT GOSSIP about others. What he said, she said, you said and we said; needs to be kept under control and expressed to trusting adults, teachers, pastors, or youth leaders. What other things would be important to do in this situation? Also, what does the bible say about love and what are the fruits of the Spirit and of the sinful nature? Look up 1 Corinthians 13 and also Galatians 5:16-22 to answer these questions