Don't Let Anger get the Best of You

Saturday, January 3rd, 2025

8:57 am

Good morning! Today I am in Matthew 5:21-26. Jesus tells His disciples and the crowd that they have heard their ancestors say that they must not commit murder, for if you do you will be subject to judgment. But He tells them that if they are even angry with someone, they are subject to judgment. If they call someone an idiot, they are in danger of being brought to court. Or if they curse someone, they are in danger of the fires of hell. If they are sacrificing at the Temple and they suddenly remember that someone has something against them, they should leave their sacrifice and be reconciled to that person. Then they can go back and offer the sacrifice to God. He tells them to settle their differences with their adversary before they get to court, or they will be in danger of being thrown into prison.

Jesus is telling us that we should not even become angry enough to murder, for then we have already committed murder in our hearts. Killing is a terrible sin, but anger is a great sin also because it violates God's command to love. Anger can cause us to do many bad things, so we must be careful to not let our anger get out of control, and cause us to do something that we will regret later. Anger keeps us from developing a spirit pleasing with God. Jesus also warns us that broken relationships can hinder our relationship with God. Our attitudes toward others reflect our relationship with God. We cannot claim to love God and hate others because God tells us to love others. 1 John 4:20 says that a person is a liar if they say they love God but hates their Christian brother or sister; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?

God wants to help others while we are here on earth, but we cannot help anyone when we are stuck in anger. There are so many bad things that happen to us that it is understandable to get angry, but we must not let that anger take control of us. We must resolve what ever the issue is by forgiving those who wrong us. God forgives us when we do something that is unpleasing to Him, He has all the reason in the world to be angry at us and not forgive us, but He chooses to forgive us. We too must learn to forgive, and not hold on to anger and hurt. God does not want us to be stuck there because we cannot help others when we are.

Are you angry at someone today? If so ask God to help you let go of that anger. Ask Him to help you forgive that person who has wronged you or hurt you. He will help you because He doesn't want you to be stuck there. He wants to help you. Choose to let go of anger today.