Friday, November 20, 2015

11-20-2015



Good Morning All!!     
        1 Peter 5:8; “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
    It is sure easy right now.  It is incredibly easy right now.  We have seen airplanes blown up; we have seen innocent people killed and in the most gruesome way.  We listen to spokesmen for ISIL speak of the “infidel crusaders” and we, in our holy, righteous anger are ready to respond.  After all, we must defend the faith; we must be ready to fight.  While this feeling or emotion may seem justified, be careful; your adversary the devil seeks someone to devour.
    It is truly amazing how easily we fall into the trap of “holy, righteous anger.”  We see something or hear something and we become enraged.  This is an outrage that cannot stand. We seek to be God’s avenging angels and we launch our “holy, righteous anger.”  The trouble is our “holy righteous anger” is really just anger and sin in our life.  It is hidden; the devil sneaks up, even feeds the anger and leads us into sin.  We fall for it so often. 
    Make no mistake about it; the devil is still more crafty than any other creature.  The devil insinuates himself within our hearts and minds in the sneakiest ways.  Of course we are angry about abortion; it is murder so our anger burns.  We watch a foreign religion use foreign values and murder people.  In our mind we see it as the slaughter of the innocents of the faithful of God and we have to do something.  We must teach them a lesson and our outrage is fed and the devil laughs.  We are not watchful, we step into the trap and we are soon devoured.
    One thing that we often struggle with is the idea of “holy righteous anger.”  We like to think it is a tool available to us.  We look at the Bible and point to examples of Jesus being angry and making the whip and driving out the moneychangers in the Temple.  We look to examples in the Bible where God’s anger burns and then destroys evil.  We point to this and say, “Yeah that is right.”  Quite to the point, you and I are not Jesus; you and I are not God.  We must be very, very careful not to assume that we are.  For when we claim anger for God, we are saying we are God.
    If we read closely, Jesus never tells his disciples (us) to be angry.  Jesus tells us to love.  We are to love each other; we are to have compassion on all people we meet.  We are not to see anger as a way to express our faith or God’s will in this world.  We are to see anger as something that is harmful.  God invites us to love as he loves us; we are to forgive as he forgives; we are to be compassionate as he is.  If anger from God is needed, let God decide the time and method.  God calls us to love, let that be your guide.
Gracious Father, in my sin I see anger as serving you yet only the devil wins when all are angry.  Guide us by your Spirit to seek your love and to share the love that you so graciously pour out upon us.  Lead me to be your peacemaker.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret       

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