Verse of the Day for September 28

Paul makes a list of things to put away: bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, and then with all malice. They move from the inside out. Bitterness sits in the heart. Wrath and anger rise up. Clamour is the noise. Evil speaking is the words. Malice is what remains underneath.

Then he gives three things to put on. be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. Six out, three in. The getting rid of is harder than the taking on.

And the reason comes in the past tense. even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. For Christ's sake means at Christ's cost. God's forgiveness was not free to him. It was paid for.

That is why Paul can ask so much. He is not pretending forgiveness is cheap. It costs you your right to be bitter, your right to the last word, your right to tell the story your way. The cost is real. It is also smaller than the one already paid for you.

If you are holding something against a family member, bitterness may feel like the only thing keeping you safe. Paul is not asking you to pretend it did not hurt. He is asking you to begin putting it away, one layer at a time, starting with the words you say about them.

Start putting bitterness away with the words you say about them.

Forgiveness is not pretending it did not hurt.