By Michael Fortson, Minister

Canyon Creek Church of Christ, Temple

When we lived in Africa many years ago, we ate some unusual foods. Before we began doing mission work, we were taught that it was a huge offense to refuse food offered to us in the villages. I suppose in a country where the average family eats unseasoned corn meal mush (Ugali) every day with a little bean sauce or pumpkin leaves and very rarely get meat, that it would be an affront to refuse fried termites or a little stew made out of dried minnows with the eyes intact. It was a real challenge to smile and say thank you while eating some things! Actually the fried termites weren't too bad; it was just when the legs got stuck in your teeth that it bothered you a bit. But that was Africa.

In America I think it's not what we eat that bothers us but what's eating us that is the problem. There are things that we let chew on us, like unforgiveness and bitterness, until they consume us. The worst thing we ever tried to eat in Africa was boiled elephant trunk. It was beyond tough and one of those things that as you chew it gets bigger and bigger. That’s how unforgiveness and bitterness are. The more you chew on them the bigger they get and they have a tendency to pack on pounds.

God has a lot to say about unforgiveness and bitterness. For example, Jesus said, "If you do not forgive men their sins, your Father (God) will not forgive your sins." Matt. 6:15. Then we are urged to "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you." Eph. 4:31 - 32.

"Forgive him? I can’t forgive the terrible things he has done to me!" So said one divorcee of her ex-spouse. If that’s true, she is destined to be burdened and hindered for the rest of her life. It's not just that God can't forgive unforgiveness. The problem is that we carry around an unforgiving and graceless spirit every where we go. Unforgiveness sticks out all over us. It acts like a repellent, keeping people away; who wants to get close to a bitter unforgiving person? It walks around with us, it goes into the grocery store and the Doctor's office with us. It follows the words on the pages of the books we read. It lays down at night with us and wakes us up in the morning and it is there when we eat our toast at the breakfast table. In the end it's our stomachs and heads and hearts that are toast.

Bitterness, unforgiveness and hatred are all messed up in the same dish. No one I know is big enough to hate someone else without first destroying himself. Jesus said get rid of things like this as quickly as you can, preferably before the sun goes down. "Forgive everyone, everything as quickly as you can." That kind of advice goes down a whole lot easier than elephant trunk!