Be diligent that none of you fails to take hold of the grace of God; for if he does there can very easily spring up in him a bitter spirit which is not only bad in itself, but can also poison the lives of many others.  Hebrews 12:15

Returning to our first love. We’ve talked about loving the Lord with all our hearts and loving Him with all our souls, loving Him with all our mind and loving Him with our strength. But there are a few other areas that have Christians trapped in 2nd love experiences.

Firstly, bitterness. Christians are bitter because their trust has been betrayed, feeling cheated because their church hasn’t lived up to all the promises it makes; resentful because people with the “Christian” label don’t live like it; cynical because they know it should be better and it’s getting worse…

This is especially easy for people who have been in the faith a while. When everything was new, everyone seemed so godly, so fresh and loving. We were encouraged to follow the characteristics of these “super-Christians” to become a better Christian ourselves. It’s possible that that is reasonable short-term advice, but in the long run, it won’t last. As time goes on, we see kinks in the “super-Christians” and that can be pretty disheartening. Cynicism sets in…Bitterness isn’t far behind.

Typically, bitterness is the fruit of unforgiveness. And unforgiveness is a grace issue. When we aren’t receiving God’s grace it’s impossible to extend grace to others. As today’s verse says, when we fail to take hold of the grace of God, a bitter spirit springs up. We might not even notice it at first, but it springs up anyway, and poisons our lives and the lives of those around us.

A spirit of forgiveness is essential to Christian love. John tells us that if we can’t love our fellow believers, we can’t love God (1 Jn 4:20). Add to that Jesus’ own words, “If ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mk 11:26). And He’s talking about really forgiving, “from the heart” (Matt 18:25), not just gritting our teeth and talking a good line. In most cases, this can only be done by the Holy Spirit healing us on the inside, pouring His own grace into us so that it overflows into how we treat others.

Next time we’ll look at some more areas that have Christians trapped in 2nd love experiences. Next up: Living in the past.