Repentance is the cure for Bitterness - Acts 7-8

In chapter 8 of this section we see the formula for a bitter soul: Simon, a powerful and popula man, enjoyed a "magical" life. He appears to be a man full of talen and had the ability to draw crowds with his articulate speech and his slight of hand. Like most people today with a "talent" he felt as though he should be the center of attention and at the top of the marquee. However, along comes Peter, John and Philip and they have a power that makes Simon look like a grade school child in a chemistry class - full of wonder yet empty of skill. Peter tells him that he is full of a "gull of bitterness." The combination of the words is like you and me saying to someone you have a "herb of sharp pain within you." Simon had swallowed his own envy and ego. That pain on the inside was dening him the very power he desired: The Power of the Spirit. Peter's formual for replacing the power of the ego and the desire of the envy was for him to repent. Nothing special here. Just a good, old fashion fall-on-my-face-and-acknowledge-the-sin-in-my-life type of experience. God has the solution for our sin: Repent. Nothing has ever happened good for anyone until that action, based upon faith, takes place. Psalm 51 is David's version of repentance. Isaiah 6 is another version. Here in Acts 8 we have Peter's version. If you have ego and envy ruling your heart you have the herb of sharp pain brewing in your life. The only perscription available for that is repentance. There is no generic version of repentance - it is on your face before Christ or nothing at all.