Revolutionary Leaders

Are You Bitter or Better?


Bitterness creates an illusion of control and power. It is an attempt to hold someone prisoner to an experience or action in the past (whether real or imagined), but the reality is that our bitterness traps no one but ourselves.


Gratitude fuels optimism and inspires hope. When hope is directed toward the past, it becomes despair. Hope can only exist in the future. This is one reason why embittered people ultimately cannot be encouraged into a new frame of thinking. Until they are willing to let go of the past, they are not ready to take hold of the future. Gratitude is much better than bitterness.


Grace both receives and gives forgiveness without measure. To receive the grace of God and yet treat others ungraciously is an act of wickedness. God's expectation is that we get rid of all bitterness, rage, brawling, slander, and malice and "be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave [us]" (Epesians 4:32 NIV). (edited exerpts from Erwin Ralph McManus' book, Stand Against The Wind, Awaken the Hero Within)