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Picture a miserable, depressed,
emotionally-broken person hunched over a chemistry set. His eyes are narrow.
His lips are pursed. His fingers are methodically adding just a pinch of
this and a dash of that to the acrid green fluid in the test tube before
him. His thoughts are a hodgepodge of dated images, his heart a stale mosaic
of hatred for a grievance long past. He’s thinking of the one who hurt him,
and he’s concocting a poison for the offender.
It sounds like an excerpt from an old movie, doesn’t it? But, here’s where
the scene changes direction. Envision that same pathetic scientist breathing
a sigh of relief as he straightens up, marveling at the liquid vengeance he
has created. Now, finally, imagine that poor soul saying, “This will show
him,” as he turns the test tube bottoms-up and drinks the poison himself.
That’s a surprising twist—one we would not expect in a movie. Yet, there’s a
good chance you’ve done this very thing at one time or another.
Bitterness is a poison we prepare for someone else but then drink ourselves.
It’s a concentrated dose of emotional venom. Often, it’s one we carefully
nurture and grow over the course of years. When we react to someone’s
wrongdoing by withdrawing and giving free reign to daydreams of retribution
and ill will, we’re slowly poisoning our own hearts and minds.
Ask God to reveal any signs of poison in your system. Then, give yourself a
dose of the antidote—forgiveness. |
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