This past week I found out that someone I’ve known for over five years has lied to me about not partaking in illegal substances. I admit that my first reaction and frankly subsequent reactions were not lead by the Spirit. I was leaning on the “flesh” and indulged in emotions that you would imagine are aroused through such a revelation of truth. Anger, resentment, sadness, disgust, frustration, regret… all of these and more were at the banquet of my “wrath.” When we react to something it often doesn’t just include emotions but actions as well. Was it gossip for me to talk to the other staff where I work about it? Or when I told Ryan? None of the people I told needed to know nor could they do anything about the situation except to tell me that they weren’t surprised. Why was I surprised then? Was Jesus surprised when those He loved turned against Him? No, He knew ahead of time what would come to pass… and He loved us all anyway.
In both 2 Corinthians 12:20 and Galatians 5:20, the apostle Paul includes “outbursts of wrath” in his list of unchristian activities. James 1:20 says that the “wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Can you think of any examples in the Bible where someone reacted to something with an outburst of wrath? Did it ever lead them down the path of righteousness? So, if we should not exhibit wrath, what should we do?
Pray. In this case, I needed to pray not just for myself but also to pray for the other person. I needed to pray that God would help me react in a way that would honor Him instead of honoring the enemy or needlessly influencing how other people would view this particular person who lied to me.
Remember. I needed to remember that we are all sinners and that I am not any better than anyone else. I could choose to look down on this person. To say that they obviously were not wanting to follow Jesus but honestly, I don’t know that. Only Jesus knows the heart therefore until this person says, “I don’t want anything to do with Jesus,” then I should keep my eyes on the hope that maybe one day they will, through a relationship with Him, overcome their various addictions and ultimately be in the kingdom.
Focus. There’s a reason why James says our human wrath doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. I was offended. I was hurt. I wanted this person to be in my kingdom instead of God’s! I had worked “hard” on their behalf doing many “good deeds” and showing them “love.” How long is longsuffering? The word longsuffering as an attribute of God is evident from the very beginning of the Bible all the way through to the end. If I truly focused on Jesus, then maybe through “longsuffering” this person would be lead to a picture of Jesus through my conduct (Galatians 5:22). In our discussion of the book of Romans, the Sabbath School quarterly brought forward the idea that when we give our lives to Jesus we accept Him into our lives and He enables us to do that which we otherwise could not do; therefore, we become reflectors of His character (page 74). Maybe five years isn’t really that long. Should any of us ever give up on someone? Granted there probably is a time when we want to or at least there’s a time when we have sown all the seeds we are able and we must let the Holy Spirit do His work through others. However, if my focus from the beginning was on Jesus then I should not have been so personally offended. They are sinning against God, not me and I need to keep my eyes on how much He wants not just me but this other person in His kingdom as well.
Luke 6:45, “…For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” May God watch over all of us this week and help us to reflect His character by what we say and what we do to all of those around us especially when we want to exhibit an outburst of wrath!