Be Better, Not Bitter!
Betrayals, All Trials Should Make You Better, Not Bitter
Be better, not bitter: Betrayals, abuses, false witness against you, character assassination, rejection, reproaches, delays, and other trials should make you better, not bitter.
Our LORD, GOD and SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST was perfected through sufferings. So are we to be. What they did to Him, they do us who follow Him.
As He said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember THE WORD that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My WORD, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18-20).
Therefore He says to the believer to “take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23). Hence Paul said, “I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31).
What does it mean to take up your cross daily?
It means: “I have been crucified with CHRIST; It is no longer I who live, but CHRIST lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by Faith in THE SON OF GOD, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20).
“For The Love of CHRIST compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him Who died for them and rose again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15.
JESUS endured THE CROSS for us; WE must endure our cross for Him, daily. Again, as Paul said, “I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31).
When we talk about THE CROSS, It’s not a crucifix on a neck chain that one may wear; It’s The Sufferings CHRIST suffered and endured because of our sins, to save and deliver us, yes, redeem us from every lawless deed.
From the court of the chief priests to the court of Pontius Pilate to His Appearance before Herod and back before Pontius Pilate, they slapped Him, spat on Him, HUMILIATED Him with trials of mockings, they slapped Him and said “Prophesy to us! CHRIST, who slapped You?”
They tore and mutilated His Flesh with The Stripes He was beaten at His Bare Back.
They also put The Crown of Thorns on His Head; they struck Him on The Head with a reed.
In His Humiliation, His Justice was taken away. (Acts 8:33).
Oh, All of These they did to Him for HOURS on end throughout the evening, the night and the following morning. He was sleepless, hungry and thirsty and weak, yet He had to listlessly carry those HEAVY Beams of Wood (THE CROSS) all the way to Calvary.
So much so that, as foreordained by GOD, Simon of Cyrene had to be compelled to help Him carry THE CROSS at some point.
And then they crucified Him.
Yet He was not bitter towards His hateful and false accusers, jealously unfair and unjust judges, the blasphemous soldiers who mocked Him repeatedly, humiliated Him and crucified Him.
Yet, in all His Sufferings He was not bitter. JESUS was perfected through sufferings (Hebrews 2:10; 5:8-9; 7:28); so must we be.
( JESUS was The Only Sinless Man. Just imagine: To have gone through this life without thinking even one evil thought. )
Trials should make you better, not bitter. And only by The Help of THE HOLY SPIRIT can this be.
Rick Joyner wrote that “Rejection will either make us bitter or better”.
But I believe, for the true follower of JESUS CHRIST, it is not either/ or. No matter what we suffer, we must come out better, never bitter. Our only option is to be better.
For that’s the purpose of trials.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your Faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4.
Our pursuit is to in all things please, praise and preach JESUS wherever whenever. We live to do only His Will. As He did so we must do.
“As you therefore have received CHRIST JESUS THE LORD, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in The Faith, as you have been taught, abounding in It with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7.
“Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in THE LORD JESUS that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please GOD” 1 Thessalonians 4:1.
Ours is The Better Covenant, not a bitter covenant. The New Covenant we have in THE BLOOD OF JESUS is A Better Covenant Which was established on Better Promises! (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6).
We must therefore only get better, not bitter.
“But now He has obtained A More Excellent Ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of A Better Covenant, Which was established on Better Promises.” Hebrews 8:6.
Only one alphabet makes the word better differ from the word bitter: “e”.
The “e” can stand for “endure”, “endurance”; “enjoy” “enjoyment” on our journey to Heaven. But the “i” in “bitter” can stand for iniquity.
If you don’t endure as JESUS did, you will be bitter and fall into iniquity, being defiled into destruction.
What at all is it that you cannot forgive and let go? If you don’t let go, it will let you go into perdition!
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly FATHER will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your FATHER forgive your trespasses.” Matthew 6:14-15.
If you endure by The Grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, you will enjoy — exalted by Him with Glory and reign with Him on His Throne. Hallelu-YAH!
“If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us.” 2 Timothy 2:12.
He said: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My Throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My FATHER on His Throne.“ (Revelation 3:21).
This is what it means to be Better: Boldly endure trials, tribulations; enjoy reigning.
Pray:
In JESUS’ NAME, LORD, heal me of every wound, bitterness, unforgiveness, all other offences, and replace them with The Wonderful Works of GOD.
Hallelu-YAH! Thank You JESUS.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance The Race that is set before us, looking unto JESUS, The Author and Finisher of our Faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured THE CROSS, despising the shame, and has sat down at The Right Hand of The Throne of GOD. For consider Him Who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to BLOODSHED, striving against sin. And you have forgotten The Exhortation Which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of THE LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom THE LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, GOD deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to THE FATHER of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His Holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields The Peaceable Fruit of Righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue Peace with all people, and Holiness, without which no one will see THE LORD: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of The Grace of GOD; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.” Hebrews 12:1-16.
“For it was fitting for Him, for Whom are all things and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to Glory, to make The Captain of their Salvation perfect through sufferings.” Hebrews 2:10.
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your Faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at The Revelation of JESUS CHRIST” 1 Peter 1:6-7.
“My brethren, count it all Joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your Faith produces Patience. But let Patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” James 1:2-4.
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive The Crown of Life which THE LORD has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12.
“But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:10.
“The LORD Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:22.
“Farewell” Acts 15:29.
~ Jacob Addison Awagah
Jacob, an apostle of JESUS CHRIST by The Will of GOD, according to The Promise of Life Which is in CHRIST JESUS, (2 Timothy 1:1).
Like John, I like to put my head to The Heart of JESUS so as to know and do His Will always. What’s in His Heart is what matters now and FOREVER. His Heart’s Desire is my only desire. My will is to do His Will.
As John was, I am the disciple whom JESUS loves. And like Paul, I am “the prisoner of CHRIST JESUS” (Ephesians 3:1) for His Purpose forever: to obey Him always.
NB. Surely, the disciple whom JESUS loves and “the prisoner of CHRIST JESUS”, like ALL The Promises of GOD, are available to every believer to obtain, just as John and Paul did.
“And having been perfected, He [JESUS] became The Author of Eternal Salvation to all who obey Him,” Hebrews 5:9.
Jacob, thank you for sharing this very common problem of choice. It is not about feelings because rejection is never from God but because we do not grasp and truly love, we first reach for the approval of man. But we have a better covenant with one who was rejected by men but died to set us free. Blessings, my brother, Sandi
Thank you much Bro Jacob. Very relatable and meaningful to me. Just pulling out here:
“Ours is The Better Covenant, not a bitter covenant. The New Covenant we have in THE BLOOD OF JESUS is A Better Covenant Which was established on Better Promises! (Hebrews 7:22; 8:6).”
Amen & Amen
AMEN!!!