Ask Pastor John Fighting Bitterness
4 snips
Sep 12, 2013 
John Piper, Reformed pastor, theologian, and founder of Desiring God, offers pastoral wisdom on bitterness. He traces how repeated hurts deepen resentment. He stresses dependence on God, remembering our own forgiveness, and trusting divine justice. He explains how suffering can produce glory and urges laying down vengeance while offering forgiveness.
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How Bitterness Develops From Hidden Injustice
- Bitterness usually grows from repeated deep wrongs combined with the hiddenness of pain that others don't fully know.
- John Piper explains this intensifies injustice feelings and can escalate from frustration to settled long-term bitterness.
Accept You Can't Settle Accounts Alone
- Let it sink in that you don't deserve better from God and that you cannot settle accounts by yourself.
- Piper directs listeners to rely on God because trying to settle accounts alone will fail and fuel more bitterness.
Let God’s Forgiveness Shape Your Response
- Realize and savor how much you've been forgiven by God and at what cost to Christ, then extend forgiveness to others.
- Piper cites Ephesians 4:31 and 5:1 to show holding grudges contradicts Christ's forgiveness and example.
