I Surrender All - "My Bitterness"

"I Surrender My Bitterness"

Bryan Jones

This Sunday we will continue our sermon series “I Surrender All” with a look at a parable Jesus told in Matthew 18:23-33.  This parable tells the story of a king who wanted to settle accounts.  One of his servants owed him some money.  Actually – this servant owed him a LOT of money.  More than he could ever pay.  The focus here is on the magnitude of the debt that was owed, and on the king’s anger over the servant’s inability to pay.
 
Have you ever been wronged by someone, and you found yourself wanting to “settle the account?”  Most of us do this all the time.  Someone honks at us and we slow down just to annoy them.  We settle the account.  But what does Jesus have to say about this?
 
Jesus understood the price we pay for settling accounts the wrong way.  So many of us hold onto frustration and anger.  We live with a spirit of bitterness.  It’s human nature to try to hurt those who hurt us because we think it will make us feel better.  But it doesn’t.  When we hold onto anger, frustration, bitterness, and unforgiveness we are really just punishing ourselves.
 
I hope you will join me Sunday as we talk about surrendering our bitterness to Jesus.  In this parable Jesus teaches us that we can “settle accounts” in a way that we don’t forfeit our heart.