“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the
“When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.
Two dimensional Faith
I heard again yesterday of a person who has no interest in Christ because of the actions of someone who is in Christ. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of evangelism. Our witness is killed by friendly fire. None of us are perfect, but some people have not made any connection between what happens on Sunday morning and what they do and say, and how they act the rest of the week.
Jesus made a clear connection. Our horizontal relationships, relationships with our neighbors, friends, family, strangers, affect our vertical relationship with God. You cannot ignore the anger in your heart towards your brother or sister and think you are fine before God.
Honesty before God requires honesty with our peers. Faith is not just a spiritual experience, it is practical. If we fail to express our faith in our everyday relationships we are missing out on an important part of what faith really is.
Lord over all my relationships, help me to show love to others in the same way I express my love to you. Fill me with love for others even when they disappoint me. - Dan Jones
Unnatural Activity
As a child immersed in a church sub-culture determined to live out the holiness of the Bible, at least as we understood it, Jesus’ words today became a suppressive and unhealthy expectation. Spirit filled Christians never got angry. We might get peeved or upset or, if we were truly spiritual, deeply concerned, but never would Spirit-filled people get angry.
This is the kind of unnatural interpretation that resulted from truncated literalism. We were right to take Jesus’ words as literally from God. We slipped into grave error, error that produced psychological and relational sickness, by missing the bigger biblical picture and the deeper issue Jesus aimed at – reconciled relationships! Anger, rightly motivated and expressed, is a natural, healthy, and helpful emotion. In fact, it is a necessary element in a world that experiences a jumble of good and evil. But “anger issues” are another matter.
Anger that grows from a self-centered life and triggered simply by not getting what I wanted or expected from others turns me into a persistently angry person who leaves a trail of wounded and broken relationships. Further, unresolved anger left seething inside (often the result of my childhood religious experience!), even the right kind of anger, turns the soul rotten and the person bitter and jaded.
Making reconciliation part and parcel of my spiritual life attacks both of these aspects that twist anger into life destroying sin. Working to make peace in my horizontal relationships while celebrating peace in my vertical relationship pushes me beyond myself, forcing me to address my own wants and expectations, the root of much anger. Living at peace with God and working toward peace with others also keeps the proverbial carpet free of debris swept under it and ignored until the pile of unresolved issues becomes insurmountable.
A life of peace-making and reconciliation feels even more unnatural than suppressing and denying anger! My battle with self-centeredness assures it. This is where Spirit-filled living truly enters my picture. Rather than eliminating all anger from my life, God’s spirit turns me outward to pursue peace with others as an integral part of my spiritual life. I cannot help but think that as I walk this “unnatural road” my life will become “naturally” less angry!
Father of Life, reconciling with people is so time consuming, threatening, nerve-racking, and fraught with risks to my own wants and expectations, that I find it hard to live such a life. I’d prefer simply run and leave another broken relationship in my wake. I am sorry. Grant me the grace to become a peace-maker, no matter the cost, and so find your blessing. - Mike Leamon
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