You Can Triumph Over Your Own Bitterness

After Job experienced a series of great catastrophes,his wife told him to"curse God
and die" (Job 2:9).Indeed,the perversity of life,the unfairness we see and experience
,can make us want to throw up our hands in despair. Few persons had a better right
to feel that way than Jesus.When his disciples were with him on their last night together,oblivious to his agony,they got into a dispute about which of them should be considered the greatest (Luke C-22:v24 ).One disciple betrayed him.Another denied
him.Then he was arrested,unjustly accused,tried,flogged,and condemned to die. A person in his situation might easily feel great bitterness not only toward his "friends" and persecutors but also toward God.However ,in the direst and most trying of circumstances,Jesus remained the master over his own attitudes and actions.
While he was being crucified,he said,"Father,forgive them;for they do not know what
they are doing"( Luke C-23:v34).Jesus,absorbed the verbal abuse of the leaders and
of the soldiers,apparently without saying a word.He did not defend himself against
the derision of one of the criminals being crucified along with him.Instead he offered comfort to the other man being crucified.Finally,after experiencing all the
pain and abuse humankind could dish out,he entrusted his life,destiny,and the justness of his cause to God,saying,"Father,into your hands I commend my spirit"
( Luke C-23:v46).
Jesus' victory was complete.Nothing the world could do to him could make him bitter
toward God,make him less than he intended to be ,or make him lose confidence in the
power of God to achieve justice.Jesus did not grow rich off his amazing abilities,
command mighty armies,or control the purse of a big corporation.He did not prove his central place in the world by avoiding all pain and struggle.He did not achieve
victory in any of the common ways; but he did what none of the rest of us,out of our own strength,is able to do.He proved himself the complete master of his own ambitions
,desires,and passions.He did not let injustice or the bitterness it engenders defeat
him.So let the understanding of Jesus' victory change your ways of assessing your life.