The Association of the Covenant People - Thy Kingdom Come -
September 2007
A WORLD OF ANGER
by Holly MILLS
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice,
blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth" (Col.3:8).
We are indeed living in a world of anger. If you watch, read
or listen to the news today it is filled with people and nations
who are angry. Anger is the emotion of the day, as my friend
would say. We have become such an I/Me culture that we tend to be
reactive rather than proactive. Anger is one of our strongest
emotions and so often we feel it is justified. The reality is
that anger is generally a destructive emotion rather than a
positive one. It usually causes more harm than good. "The
north wind driveth away rain: so doth an angry countenance a
backbiting tongue" or "The north wind bringeth forth rain: so
doth a backbiting tongue and angry countenance" (Prov.25:23). We
often cause many problems when we are angry. Rebellion, destroyed
relationships, violence, etc. all come out of anger.
We do not seem to know how to control ourselves today. We
have lost respect for each other. It is so easy to blame others
and be angry with them. This is exactly what happened in
the Garden of Eden, when Adam blamed the woman God had given him
and Eve blamed the serpent, when, in reality, they both sinned.
It seems if we can blame someone else we can feel justified
in our sin. This is the way it has always been. Without Christ in
our lives it is so easy to behave that way. We do not want to
take responsibility for what is going wrong in our lives, so we
become angry, resentful and disrespectful. This carries over into
all areas of our lives. The old phrase "he has a chip on his
shoulder" applies here as many of us carry around old wounds and
keep the anger inside. We become selfish and self-centered and
feel like the world owes us something. Consequently we become
angry with everyone.
How sad, as this is not the way we are to be. This is a sure
fire way to drive people out of your life and to cause all sorts
of health problems. "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go
down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil" (Eph.4:
26-27). Do not hold onto your anger. It is a very destructive
emotion and harms your relationship with God.
Our nations too are filled with anger and hate. Most of this
anger is caused by resentment, power struggles, past injustices,
etc: and it is spilling over to all peoples of the earth. The
whole earth is full of anger. How long can this go on before
something catastrophic happens? When people (nations) are angry
they often do things out of retaliation rather than being
sensible. This is very destructive. This anger and hate is
leading to a time of judgment on the earth. It cannot go on much
longer. "And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come. And
the time of the dead that they should be judged. And that thou
shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the
saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and
shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth" (Rev.11:18).
This uncontrolled anger and hate will destroy the earth if
God does not step in and help us.
Today we do not know how to control our anger. Without God's
laws guiding us we are letting our sinful natures rule us. This
is leading to nothing but destruction. Our countries are no
longer ruled by God's laws and we are quickly heading to
destruction. We must continue to warn our people that they must
repent and come to the Lord Jesus. The time is short.
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that
which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace
unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby
ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away
from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you" (Eph.4: 29-32).
................
ANGER can lead to physical harm, hurt, or even death. How many
murders have you seen on TV news programs that were the result of
anger? Many indeed. How many physical harms were the result of
anger have you seen or heard about in news papers and TV news
casts? Many indeed. Today most of us have heard about "road rage"
- people doing harmful things against others (even killing)
because of anger while driving on the highways, out of control.
Have you ever felt anger without cause against someone because of
things said or situations real or imagined? Have you had
undesirable thoughts towards your boss because you felt he did
you wrong? Or evil thoughts towards a co-worker, or someone in
your club or sports team or a neighbor. The situations could be
endless where if you are not guarding your thoughts, could lead
you to attitudes of malice, wrath, bad words rushing through your
mind, and/or anger, without cause.
Satan and his demon helpers are only too ready to help you with
evil thoughts, and words, and anger, if you allow them to sneak
into your mind. The dark side of our human nature can pop up its
ugly head, to fill our mind with anger, malice, blasphemy, and
communications out of our mouth that are unclean, or as Paul put
it, just plain filthy.
Yes, we live in a world ever getting more angry, the anger that
does lead to sin, hurt, and even death.
When we feel or sense thoughts of anger, malice, and
communications with ourselves or others, that are sinful if not
checked, we need to cry out to our heavenly Father as David did,
"Create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a right spirit in
me."
Christians are not perfect, we try to walk on the road that ever
leads to perfection and righteousness, but we are still in a
battle with our nature, the world around us, and Satan the Devil
and his demons.
Fight the good fight, lay hold on the crown of righteousness that
will be given to those who do continue to daily put on the whole
armor of God, and who will determine, with God's help, to put off
all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of our mouth - Keith Hunt
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