Part 6

Hello ,

“See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” — Hebrews 12:15

In 1994, after the devastation of the Rwandan Genocide, the country faced an impossible question: how do you move forward when neighbors had turned against neighbors? In the years that followed, community-based courts—called Gacaca—were established. Survivors sat face-to-face with those who had wronged them. Confessions were made. Truth was spoken out loud. And in many cases, forgiveness was extended—not because the pain wasn’t real, but because holding onto it would have destroyed what little future remained.

Bitterness, left unchecked, doesn’t just preserve the past—it poisons the present.

Scripture calls bitterness a “root.” That’s precise language. Roots grow underground, out of sight, but they determine what comes up above. You can look fine on the surface—functioning, productive, even spiritual—but if bitterness has taken hold, it will eventually show up in how you speak, how you trust, and how you relate.

The danger is that bitterness rarely stays isolated. 

Hebrews says it “defiles many.” It spreads—into conversations, into assumptions, into new relationships that haven’t even earned your distrust but inherit it anyway.

Spring cleaning isn’t just about what’s visible. It’s about what’s been left unattended beneath the surface.

Forgiveness is not minimizing what happened. It’s not saying it was okay. It’s choosing not to carry it forward as a defining weight. It’s deciding that the offense will not become your identity or your filter.

You may never get closure. You may never hear “I’m sorry.” But your healing is not dependent on someone else’s acknowledgment.

Ask yourself: Where has bitterness taken root in me? Where am I still replaying what was done?

God’s invitation is not just to remove bitterness—but to replace it with grace. A grace that doesn’t deny the wound, but refuses to let it control what grows next.

Today, don’t just trim the surface. Pull the root.

Musical Reflection:  Near To The Heart Of God

Have a great day and God bless!

Pastor Mike / The Open Word