You may have felt that mental health topics do not apply to you as we considered them these past months. Except perhaps the positive ones such as the one on how to be happy. That’s right, we all love positive topics but the truth is that life is a mix of good and bad. All the same, we now come to a topic in our divine health series which applies to us all. We call it religious malice but you can also think of it as a root of bitterness.
How many of us do not know what it is to be so angry with someone that we refuse to talk to them? That’s right, we all know what malice is. Some are even experts at it, refusing efforts at forgiveness until they get to heaven, as they claim. They may not even get to heaven but that is a topic for another day. Meanwhile, what makes this topic so interesting is that it tends to affect good people more.
If, for instance, you are a bad and mean person, you may have no reason to exercise religious malice. There is nothing for you to be bitter about – you have not done a single good thing for anybody. But if you are a kind person and people fail to appreciate you, you may suffer from this mental disorder. Particularly if you are a religious person.
You obey every commandment of God and your pastor. Before anybody else gets to the church, you are there and you may be the last to leave. Anytime there is a building or bus project, you are the first to contribute money. You might even be a prayer warrior; whenever the church needs someone to pray for others, they call on you.
Nobody Appreciates You
However, when you have a need, there is nobody there for you. The result? Religious malice. Your thinking goes something like this: “After all that I am doing in this church, the pastor did not visit me when my son was ill. Upon all the money I give in this church, there was no help for me when I lost my job.” The scenarios might be different but you get the point.
Before you know it, the root of bitterness, also known as religious malice, is starting to grow. But the bible says you must stop it for your own good. You know of course that nothing we do or do not do can change God. He is God all by Himself. Even our prayers do not change God. Instead, we pray so that our minds will change and we can start seeing things from God’s point of view.
Only when you agree with God can you hope to have peace, no matter what you are going through. Therefore, the reason we should not keep religious malice is for our own good. The Bible says unless we stop it, we can fall short of God’s grace. Read it for yourself in Hebrews 12.15 if you doubt it.
A man of God was ministering at our church a few years ago and was giving words of knowledge. He came to a lady and shared the following with her. “You are very kind to people but they don’t thank you. They take you for granted but don’t let that stop you from doing good.” It is absolutely true. Unless care is taken, that lady might succumb to religious malice, hence the caution at the end of the message.
Religious People Harbor Religious Malice
The kinder you are, the more the recipients of your generosity take you for granted. Is that not why we take God’s goodness for granted so often? He is so good to us that we expect more and more every day. We overlook the ones He has done. God wakes us up every day but we do not thank Him. But the only day we become ill, we start to pray and even accuse Him of all sorts of evil. We tell him about our service and our giving in the church and accuse Him of forgetting it all.
That is what happened to the religious people at the time of the Prophet Isaiah. They were holding religious malice against God, asking Him questions. “Why have we fasted and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice?” Do you grumble at God? Beware that you do not do so and if you have been doing it, please stop today. Because God has a reason for not answering your prayers, or not taking note of your church service.
It is because you do it wrong and for the wrong motives. Look at God’s reason and the reason you must stop any religious malice today. “In fact, on the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high.” Does everybody know when you are fasting? Your reward is zero.
Religious Malice Harms Only You
Do you quarrel on the days you fast? The reward is zero. So, if it appears that God does not take notice of your fasts and prayers, God is not wrong. You are. And so, why the religious malice? It is not at God but at yourself. And guess who suffers as a result? You cannot sleep, you cannot digest your food and you snap at people. The medical people even suggest a link with cancer. If that describes you, please let your religious malice go today.
This concludes, for now, the mental health aspect of our series. In the next post, we shall go into how the food we eat affects our health.
Stay tuned.
Maranatha!
