January 12 2026

Monday January 12

The C Word, Cancer; The B Word, Bitterness

Ephesians 4:30-32; Hebrews 12:14-15

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Hebrews 12:14-15

 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;

Today we are going to continue looking at the last three verses of Ephesians chapter 4. As we examine these verses, we are talking about the attitude of bitterness. I have been to the hospital many times with people who were waiting on test results. I have stood there when the doctor walked into the room and said, “I’m sorry to tell you, but you have cancer.” I have received phone calls from people who went to the emergency room thinking they had a surface problem, only to discover they had pancreatic cancer or some other very serious and dangerous form of cancer. We call it the “C-word.” Nobody wants to hear the C-word. No one wants to hear the word cancer.

Right now, I am dealing with sciatic pain. On the surface, it is very painful. But beneath that surface pain is a deeper problem—a root cause. In much the same way, many of the problems we experience in life are surface symptoms of deeper heart issues. Attitudes like bitterness often show themselves through anger, wrath, vengeance, and hatred. These attitudes destroy our lives.

Just as cancer is made up of dangerous, destructive, invisible cells inside the body, bitterness—the “B-word”—is a destructive attitude inside the soul. No one can see it at first, but it is there. It causes a person to become negative, critical, and in some cases even cruel. It causes great damage not only to the person who harbors it, but also to those around them. That is why Hebrews 12:14-15 says: “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.”

Bitterness defiles and spreads. It not only destroys the person who has it, but it is also contagious, destroying others as they become involved in our stories, complaints, and evil talk. My friend, bitterness is a disease of the soul. It is a disease of the spirit and of the attitude, and it must be dealt with. Only by the grace of God can we deal with it.

As I mentioned, I am dealing with sciatic pain right now. I went to the emergency room yesterday. The doctor barely looked at me, asked a few questions, and said, “You’ve got a problem—you have sciatica.” Then he handed me a prescription for a lot of medication and gave me a shot. I told him, “I don’t want to just mask the problem. I want to deal with the root of the problem.” I want MRIs. I want tests that determine what is really causing the pain.

We need to realize that many of the surface problems in our relationships, which include lying, stealing, fighting, and other actions which we can visibly identify, come from invisible surface causes of our attitudes that are anger, worry, fear, insecurity and other emotional attitudes. But underneath these attitudes are the root problems that come down to basically three things, which are bitterness, guilt, or misplaced temporal values. Those are three major root problems. But beneath all of them is one ultimate root cause—pride.

Pride keeps us from listening to the Spirit of God. Pride leads us into disobedience when God tells us what we must do and we refuse to do it. Pride keeps us from asking for forgiveness for our guilt, or from not willing to forgive those who have hurt or offended us. Pride keeps us from receiving the grace of God to deal with the problem. Both James and Peter reminds us that only by humbling ourselves can we receive God’s grace (James 4:5-7; 1 Peter 5:6-11).

Paul says it this way here in Ephesians 4:30: “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We are not going to lose our salvation. But even Christians can become very bitter people and still they will not lose their salvation. Why? Because we are sealed until the day of redemption. But, my friend, we can lose the joy of our salvation when we allow the root of bitterness to fester inside of us and refuse to deal with it.

That is why Paul continues in verses 31–32: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.” So what is the answer? The answer is forgiveness—forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, has forgiven us.

One of the main reasons we must deal with bitterness is that it grieves the Holy Spirit. When we are bitter, we are not listening to Him. We are not paying attention to His voice. We are not obeying His Word—especially the words of Jesus, who taught us to forgive one another, even if we must do it again and again, up to seventy times seven. Bitterness is often the result of unresolved conflict. Sometimes it goes all the way back to childhood—something that hurt us deeply, something we never properly dealt with or resolved. That unresolved pain can still be destroying our lives today.

My friend, bitterness is the “B-word.” Let’s deal with the B-word in our lives by being kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. The Holy Spirit is characterized by joy, love, peace, longsuffering, patience, and kindness—the fruit of the Spirit. When we obey Him, that is what He produces within us, and that is what both the Holy Spirit and the Father delight in.

We may spend one more devotion on these verses tomorrow, because they are powerful and necessary truths. They address a problem that is destroying lives, families, churches, and even our nation.

God bless you, and you have a wonderful, wonderful day.