Thursday, September 28, 2017

Anger must not lead to sin.

 The anger comes, it's what we do with the anger once it hits us that matters.

Eph_4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath

Do we use our anger to get revenge, retaliating against those who wrong us? No.

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 
Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 
Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also. 
Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 
Mat 5:42  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 

Our anger can be destructive if we use it to hurt anyone. Seriously, if our anger causes us to lash out physically or verbally wounding others we are sinning against them. So what are we to do with our anger?

Mar 3:1  And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 
Mar 3:2  And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 
Mar 3:3  And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 
Mar 3:4  And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 
Mar 3:5  And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 
Mar 3:6  And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. 

Jesus looked around at those in the synagogue just waiting to accuse Him of breaking the sabbath.  Jesus grew angry because their hearts were hard. Those in charge in the synagogue didn't have any compassion on the deformed man, none. There was NO love in them, none! What did Jesus do with His anger? He healed the man, doing GOOD on the Sabbath, saving a life. He didn't let the anger He had for those tempting Him to sin, distorting the truth of the Sabbath to fit their needs, interfere with His doing good.

Did Jesus use His anger? He was angry but He didn't turn on the leaders of the synagogue and yell them, He didn't abuse them in any way.

Our anger often gets away from us and we use it to sin.  We sin against God, or our fellow man, or both and this is something Jesus would NEVER do.

We can get angry, we WILL get angry, but we can't allow that anger to lead us into sin- all by the GRACE and MERCY of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

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