Anger, Mercy and Growing in God’s Grace.
One of the factors that help us to grow in life is to learn about ourselves, to identify our own weaknesses, and then to deal with them. One of my own biggest faults (amongst other things) is that when I am angry, upset, or outraged about something, I tend to "blow off steam" and end up saying things in a manner that I later on come to regret.
It is not attacks on me personally that get me angry; those things I can handle. What gets me worked up are the injustices and callousness in the world that causes suffering for innocent people. Then there are ungodly things in the church, the exploitation, bullying, and mistreatment of people by certain church leaders, etc.
I am this way because I am not beholden to any political party or to any "camp" within the church. For me a spade is always a spade. I cannot live a life where I compromise away my deepest convictions in order to curry favour with any human or group of people.
I understand that being outraged about wrongs is not a sin, but the sin lies in how I express myself. The Bible says in Eph 4:26, "In your anger do not sin.” In other words, it is okay to be angry or outraged, but the way in which we express it can be sinful before God.
I my case, I "blow off steam," and once that is done, I am all right, back to normal. But that does not make it right. The manner in which I "blow off steam" can be wrong!
My wife Britta, on the other hand, is very calm and has tremendous self-control. She speaks the truth but always does it with great mercy and love. One of the things she advises me is this, "Don't be quick to react. Write down your feelings, sleep on it, and when you get up the next day and are calm, THEN you can re-visit what you have written down and then decide how you are going to express yourself."
In my case, it works perfectly well when she is around, but when I am alone ... God help me!
We are all learning in life. Probably the greatest lesson that I have learnt so far is to be more merciful towards those who fail or "fall." This is because I remember the times when I have failed, and how God has been merciful to me and has continued to bless me in spite of my faults. Jesus never condemned me, but he always lifted me up and told me to keep on following Him. Here I have also seen the restorative power of repentance and keeping our hearts right with God.
Because I myself have received mercy, surely it is right that I should extend the same mercy to others when they fail and are vilified by others.
May the Lord have mercy on us all and help us to love one another, having more forbearance with one another!
Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam