LIFE SCRIPTS

As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:10‭-‬18 NIV

Sin breeds bitterness. Here in this scripture, Paul is laying basis for the understanding of the sinful nature of man. He describes the sinful state using a number of adjectives; worthless (verse 12), open grave, deceit, poison (verse 13), cursing and bitterness (verse 14) and swift to shed blood (verse 15). Verses 16-18 describe the result of their sinful nature: ruin and misery (verse 16), not knowing the way of peace (verse 17) and having no fear of God (verse 18). Bitterness is a component of our original state of sin. In the book of Genesis, the first murder committed by Cain on his brother Abel was driven by bitterness towards him. God had accepted Abel’s sacrifice while rejecting Cain’s. Later on, we see bitterness in man leading to grudges, anger and vengeance. Indeed, bitterness is part of man’s depravity. Throughout life we carry baggage some of which is as a result of wrongs committed on us. Because of our fallen nature we breed bitterness in our hearts. This original state of sinful man is however redeemable through the blood of Christ. Bitterness and other sins can be washed from our lives if we choose to believe in Christ as our Savior.