Grace Cannot Coexist with Bitterness

Our family loves, prays for, and supports a Youth for Christ missionary by the name of Ajith Fernando. To us, Ajith and his family members are heroes of the faith. Their sacrifice and service would be impossible to measure outside of eternity. I love his writings and it is a joy to serve him even in some small way.

Today, his letter to his supporters included an essay on pain, anger, and grace. In it, he wrote:

“Grace must soften our hearts so that more grace can enter in, making us gracious and taking away that destructive attitude of anger that looks at life saying, ‘I have been wronged.’ Such anger is an enemy which we must fight with utmost dedication, for it takes away the thing that makes discipleship so worthwhile: the joy of the Lord. The sorrow may remain. But the joy of the Lord can coexist with sorrow, pain and tears. It cannot coexist with bitterness. Anger also takes away our anointing for we act in the flesh and not in the Spirit. This makes even the good things we do useless from God’s perspective—wood, hay and stubble which will be burned away at the judgment (1 Cor. 3:12-15).”

I think I will meditate on these truths for days — and I thought they might encourage you as well.

By faith, may we wage war against our anger and bitterness, and live solely by grace alone, for God’s glory alone!