I used to be a very angry person. I didn't always look like it on the outside, but on the inside I was seething. I was like a bear trap ready to snap at the slightest bump. Praise God I never hurt anyone, but I have patched a few walls in my day.

God never allowed me to be content with my anger. It was never comfortable to be angry. In truth, there were times when I feared the anger that was bubbling out of my heart. Is there place in your heart where the anger has become a little scary?

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger..." (Eph. 4:31a) The deadly cousin to anger is bitterness. Bitterness is when anger takes up residence. Bitterness is when anger wants a long-term lease in your heart. We often get angry at each other but decide to deal with it by the end of the day without destroying the friendship. But bitterness is when you take the anger home and allow it to poison your friendship. Have you been allowing bitterness towards someone?

Often bitterness develops from a wound that someone gave you. My father wounded me when I was very young and because I allowed anger to take a foothold in my heart bitterness took up residence. Bitterness is a self-focused attitude that demands justice. Bitterness will have nothing to do with forgiveness, it feels justifiably angry. Is there someone that hurt you and you have created excuses about why it's okay to act in anger towards them?

The only remedy to anger and bitterness is forgiveness. Not a cheap kind of "it's okay" but a compassionate and sacrificial acceptance that there need be no remedy to the wound. It's the choice to release the person from paying a price for what they did. Forgiveness is not a wage, it's a gift. It's about loving according to the grace of God.

Right after commanding us to get rid of anger and bitterness chapter 4 in Ephesians makes this statement; "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." (Eph. 4:32)

When we chose to love from the perspective of how much God has loved us we can forgive with new motivation. The motivation for forgiveness becomes the desire for that person who has wronged you to be experiencing the kind of freedom and grace that you have received from God through Christ.

I know the anger I had stored up in my heart was a product of unforgiveness. As God revealed this to me, I began the process of choosing to forgive my father and the others that I held bitterness towards. When I chose to respond to the wound in compassion and forgiveness my anger began to disappear. This is the process of healing that God does in us through the power of forgiveness.

Go, go and forgive them so that God can continue His healing work of grace in your heart.

-Josh