2021-10-22
Good Morning Dear Ones,
When you are angry, how much of it is due to your hurt feelings and how much is due to malevolence? Tough question? You bet it is! We don’t like to be forced to own up to the answer with honesty. Another way of looking at these questions is to realize there is constructive and destructive anger. God’s love for us is the love of Christ, from which we cannot be separated [RO 8: 39]. We must understand that “God’s love is not easily angered…” [1 COR 13: 4 & 5]. This couldn’t be the case unless the individual showing it takes the time to gain some perspective on the person or circumstances causing the anger. Let me give some examples. Malevolent anger is holding and carrying out a grudge against the other person. Anger combined with patience and self-control solves problems. An example of that is the patience shown when someone has been outright disrespectful to you. You choose to say nothing and pray that this other person will realize the wrongfulness of his words. Sometimes, these things take time, which requires patience on one’s part. This has happened to me a few times. I have a note of apology from the people who have done this to me. One person was a public figure who made her apology in a speech she gave, much to my surprise.
How does God handle His righteous anger? He has been known to recover his emotions and to give people a second chance. Leading up to EX 34: 6-7, we see God’s anger at the people for erecting the golden calf idol under High Priest Aaron’s leadership. Moses was on his way down Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments tablet in his hands. When he saw what the people had done, he got angry and smashed them to the ground. Later, Moses prayed for God to forgive the Jews. God, who had been angered, gave Moses the Ten Commandments a second time, and Moses etched those important words on a second tablet of stone. To indicate His forgiveness, EX 34: 5-7, “Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love (agape) and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished, He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
PS 145: 8, “The Lord is loving and merciful, slow to anger and full of constant love” Losing one’s temper is not like this at all! Trying to force a solution to the problem at hand right away is never going to work. Nagging, holding a grudge due to the argument, or using foul language is wrongful. This is surely not the Lord’s way. Let’s look at what the following verses tell us about anger and decide if it’s constructive or destructive. PR 15: 1, “A gentle answer quiets anger, but a harsh one stirs it up.” PR 15: 18, “Hot tempers cause arguments, but patience brings peace.” PR 16: 32, “It’s better to be patient than powerful. It’s better to win control over yourself than over whole cities.” PR 19: 11, “If you are sensible, you will control your temper. There is great value in ignoring someone who has wronged you.” The placement of so many of these verses should tell us that God feels the subject at hand matters. Learning how to control one’s anger makes a difference in improving his quality of life. It goes back to the idea that we should think first and then speak. Peace in our relationships makes a big difference. This verse gives us an important truth: PS 21: 19, “Better to live out in the desert than with a nagging, complaining wife.” That’s why Christ has said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God,” MT 5: 9, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy,” MT 5: 7. We mustn’t forget, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me,” MT 5: 11. These last four passages are from the Beatitudes from Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. Our Lord wants us to mull over what He tells us, so that we will know what matters to Him.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your wisdom in the Scriptures is meant to save us trouble and help us to have successful and peaceful relationships. Your control over any power to destroy them shows us how we should react to wrongdoing. Many times, we have disappointed and disrespected You. That is because we inherit and commit sin. By entering in the Covenant of Grace, You demand that we find even our most subtle of sins and confess them privately to You. When we are open and honest about our sins in such a confession, You are aware of it and are pleased. In turn, You are patient, listen with genuine interest, and exhibit the kind of self-control that You want us to have. This leads to peace between us, which we see in JAS 3: 18, “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” We worship You with joy in our hearts and offer You praise and thanks. In the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: We’ve gotten the idea that God wants us to be peacemakers, and there are several ways to do this. Next week, I am commanded to write about friendships and being careful to choose friends who bring out the best in us. In addition, we must remember, RO 5: 1-2, “Wherefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Our need for peace in our lives is also tied with our need for the leadership of the Holy Spirit in it. RO 8: 6, “For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” The same is shown in RO 15: 13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Our faithful hope in the Lord leads to the Holy Spirit’s leadership over our lives. More than anything else, that is what we should want. That is because we can think and act with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which means we will have patience, control over ourselves, inner peace, joy, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, humility, and demonstrate the agape love God has for us. Praise and thanks be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2021. All Rights Reserved.
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