“Pursue peace with all men…lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled<\/em>” (Hebrews 12:14-15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n While they may not deserve your trust and your companionship anymore, do they deserve your hatred? They are still valuable souls who operate in ignorance and sinful blindness. Jesus would handle it this way: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!” Ignorance is often at the root of people’s envy, foolish behavior, and poor choices. Their ignorance of God, His word, and your value to God leads them to foolish actions that hurt you. They operate under the blindness of sin. They know not what they do.<\/p>\n Jesus would say, “Sure, they hurt me, but I still value their soul and want them to turn around because I want them to go to heaven.” A root of bitterness was not allowed to spring up and defile His heart. What people do to hurt us must not be allowed to be a springboard from which we do more damage to our own hearts and souls. The hurtful experience is a challenge to your high principle of love. Do you throw love out? Do you seek to overcome the hurt by loving your enemy? Or do you let the hurt overcome your good judgment and the high principle of love that you know God wants you to hold tightly in this situation?<\/p>\n Will you let the hurt turn to bitterness and defile you? Or, will you pursue peace with all men, even those who do not seem to deserve it? Be cautious of letting a root of bitterness cloud your good judgment and sound principles.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton “Pursue peace with all men…lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:14-15). Negative experiences must be kept in perspective. If not handled well, we can allow those negative experiences to turn into resentment and hatred, which can be a root of bitterness.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[888],"class_list":["post-88422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-bitterness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-root-of-bitterness-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":0},"title":"The Root of Bitterness (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer \"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you\" (Ephesians 4:31-32). Bitterness is poison. It destroys the one eaten up with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/roots-200x300.avif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21951,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-root-of-bitterness\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":1},"title":"The Root of Bitterness (Bassford)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford Most of us have had an experience, invariably bad, with bitter people. Something has happened to them that they have continued to resent for years or decades, and they often take out their resentment on those who are closest to them. Frequently, we turn to Hebrews\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/roots-236x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24341,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/overcoming-bitterness\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":2},"title":"Overcoming Bitterness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lawrence Kelley \"So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62524,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gall-of-bitterness\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":3},"title":"The Gall of Bitterness","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Reading: Acts 8:14-24 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hebrews 12:14-15 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bitterness is \u201ccharacterized by animosity; harshly reproachful, caustic, disagreeable; to have a \u2018sour\u2019 disposition toward others over things that happened, whether real or imagined.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Few people want to be bitter, but many slide into it over the years. II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Causes of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55554,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/mara-or-naomi\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":4},"title":"Mara or Naomi?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ruth 1:19-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Life has its ups and downs. How do you respond? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Do you rail at life and God? Do you decide life is a misery? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Naomi had a hard life. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Famine caused her family to move to a foreign country - Ruth 1:1\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14606,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-deal-with-bitterness-against-the-two-fathers-of-my-two-daughters\/","url_meta":{"origin":88422,"position":5},"title":"How do I deal with bitterness against the two fathers of my two daughters?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know how I can deal with bitterness arising from raising my children alone when their fathers just don't show any interest. 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I'm divorced now, but both my children's fathers refuse to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88422\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/root-169x300.jpg\")
Negative experiences must be kept in perspective. If not handled well, we can allow those negative experiences to turn into resentment and hatred, which can be a root of bitterness. Bitterness defiles us. Even though the people who dealt us a negative experience were wrong and will give an account before God, we must be careful to check our feelings toward them.<\/p>\n