Tag: Anger

Devotionals

Guard your personal relationships

Loring Schultz

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” Matthew 5:22 NASB

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How we treat one another in the body of Christ is important. Anger is an issue that if not under control will lead to unfortunate circumstances between us and our brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is not only the result of unchecked anger that is the harm, but the seriousness the Lord God puts on it as explained by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus equates the anger in the heart as the same hate in the heart which leads to murder and is liable to the court. “You have heard that the ancients were told ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’” (Mt.5:21 nasb) The verbal abuse of calling a brother or sister an idiot or ‘you good-for-nothing’ stems from the same internal attitude of sinful motives which Jesus says will find you guilty before the supreme court. Jesus is serious about uncontrolled anger in our lives because it is a serious issue.

Our personal relationships other Christians are obviously hurt through this display of anger and reckless speech. Jesus addresses a remedy for reconciliation by saying, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering.” (Mt.5:23-24 nasb) In other words, before you engage in worship with other believers make things right with those you have harmed. The Lord wants us to guard our relationships with those of like faith in the kingdom of God, it’s serious business.

Devotionals

Do you have a right to be angry?                 

Loring Schultz

Read: Psalm 4 NLT – Psalm 4 – For the choir director: A – Bible Gateway

“And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, or anger gives a foothold to the devil.” Ephesians 4:26-27 NLT

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Do you have a right to be angry? Perhaps you do. But your right to be angry is always to be on based on when righteousness and justice are not being done. When sin against you or your neighbor is going unpunished, or when society accepts leniency over justice for violent crimes you and I have a right to be angry. But what are we to do with that anger, that righteous anger?

The Bible gives us two answers as to what to do with our anger. The apostle Paul tells the church in Ephesus not to let anger control us. It is very easy to be angered at someone who has done us wrong, by gossip, false accusations, even physical assaults in our total innocence. Keeping that anger under control is not easy, but extremely difficult to do. Yet, Paul instructs us not to let it control us, and also not to go to bed angry. His reasoning is it gives the devil a foothold into our lives in an area he can control by feeding that anger with his lies.

King David gives us the same advice in Psalm 4, “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.” (Ps.4:4 nlt) In a sense, David is telling us to give it over to the Lord. Other Bible translations say, ‘Meditate in your heart upon your bed.’ The idea is to think deeply about your anger and bring God into the conversation.

The world today gives us countless justifiable reasons to be angry. Christians need a watchful eye as Satan, and his demons will look for any opportunity to turn even justifiable anger for his use if we do not give it over to the Lord.

Devotionals

Words Better Left Unsaid

Loring Schultz

“And I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.” Matthew 12:36 NLT

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

There is not a person who has ever lived who has not regretted something they said. In the heat of the moment negative words fly from the best of us. It comes from our human nature, but more specifically from our sinful nature. But for the Christian, we have the Holy Spirit to guide us through circumstances that raise our tempers. James, through the Holy Spirit wrote, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” (Ja.1:19 nlt) This is only possible through the Holy Spirit as we walk by the Spirit. (Gal5:16) Still, there are slip ups with negative and careless words proceeding from our mouths when we least expect it.

Jesus’ words in the above verse should be a deep concern for all Christians. It is true Jesus is addressing the Pharisees here, but His words go way beyond the hypocritical speech of the Pharisees to us today in our daily conversations. Jesus fast forwards to judgment day and the accounting that will be accessed upon each and every one of us. The word ‘idle’ in this verse is defined as, ‘thoughtless or profitless.’ That’s a far cry from angry, provoking, deceiving, and intentionally driven hateful words.

What then is Jesus’ point for our accounting for every idle, thoughtless, and profitless word? The Wycliffe Bible Commentary explains it this way, “On the day of judgment the Lord will consider every man’s life in its entirety, even every idle word (not necessarily evil) coming from the overflow of his heart.” When we consider that Almighty God who is the Divine Judge and is aware of everything about our lives, our thoughts, our actions, our intentions, and our words, let there be no words better left unsaid.