“Our Daily Bread” http://odb.org/
The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie
http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht
“Homily Grits Devotional” http://www.homilygrits.com/
Ephesians 4:30-31… And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speakingbe put away from you, with allmalice. (NKJV)
We know the Apostle Paul was writing to the believers in Ephesus, because he speaks of not grieving the Holy Spirit, which God gives to all new believers (John 14:26)… Every time we as Christians sin…we are being disobedient to the new life “in Christ” that God has deemed us worthy to be graced with…
Christians must die to their old life (Mark 8:35), and are expected to leave their old sinful ways behind them, as they become a new creation in Christ…2 Corinthians 5:17… Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passedaway; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)
Before I go on…I am including the web site for the audio archive sermons by Dr. Charles Stanley… His March 21st audio sermon, titled…“Laying Aside the Old Self”, was my inspiration for today’s writing… I continue to be blessed each and every day, by Dr. Stanley’s daily 20 minute audio sermon… Think about book-marking this site for yourself… It can be downloaded in an mp–3 format as well… http://www.intouch.org/broadcast/audio-archives
I have chosen “anger” for today’s writing, because unrighteous anger can cause all of the other sins that are listed in the opening scripture… I will be focusing in on this scripture, just ahead of the opening scripture, in…Ephesians 4:26-27… “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil. (NKJV)
So if anger is a sin…how can we “Be angry, and do not sin” ?? This is possible because there is both righteous anger, which is not a sin in God’s eyes…and unrighteous anger, which is a sin, as it grieves the Holy Spirit…
An example of righteous anger would be like the time Jesus overturned the money tables in the Temple…Matthew 21:12… It’s OK for us as Christians, to be angry at sin…at Satan, with what he is doing in the world…and the effects of sin in a person’s life… But unrighteous anger at a person because of what they are doing to us is a sin in God’s eyes… This can be a tough sin to avoid all the time, because as I have said before, the tongue is impossible to control 100% of the time… Just read about the uncontrollable tongue, as written by Jesus’ half brother James, in…James chapter 3… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=james3&version=NKJV
Jesus gives Christians instructions about how we must love everyone, even our enemies,all of the time, in…Matthew 5:43-44… “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,” (NKJV)
Is this easy to love someone yelling in your face with rage ?? Heck no !! Not in your known strength… I spent a day writing about “Unconditional Love”, to elaborate on this point… You can easily go back to this day of writing if you’re interested…by going to… www.Godsmanforever.wordpress.com ; and typing 12/19/2012 in the search window…
We as Christians are to “hate the sin, but love the sinner”… But if we have a slip of the tongue, and yell back in response to hate or rage against us…the Apostle Paul tells us…“do not let the sun go down on your wrath”… It’s bad enough that we return anger or unkindness against us with unrighteous anger… But it’s even worse, if we don’t apologize as soon as possible…
Don’t let pride, or bitterness, or resentment let your sin fester… Be the bigger person, and admit that your response was not appropriate…no matter how much hurt or persecution you have suffered from someone else’s sinful aggression against yourself… The longer it takes to try and make things right…the worse things usually get…
Christian’s are called to be holy, as Christ is holy…1 Peter 1:16… I spent a day writing about this, on 3/18/2013, that was titled…“A Holy Calling”…for those who want to read more about sinning against God, not man…when ever they sin (Psalm 51:3-4)…
And then there is the chink in the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20), that I write about so often; when the Christian sins… Satan loves to see God’s children yelling in rage with someone else, or committing any other sin against God... This is why the Apostle Paul tells us not to sin, so that we don’t “give place to the devil”… The Apostle James pens this, in…James 4:7-8a… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will drawnear to you. (NKJV)
The Christian is called to live a righteous life… They are called to be the light and the salt of the earth…Matthew 5:13-16… This last verse in particular, is important for the Christian to remember…Matthew 5:16… Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your goodworks and glorify your Father in heaven. (NKJV)
When we blow our testimony by sinning in front of unbelievers around us…how can we ever expect to be able to share the good news of the gospel of Christ, and the reason unredeemed sinners should turn from their sins ?? If they see no difference in us, they won’t see Christ is us… And all Christians have been called to work consistently towards being conformed into the image of Christ…Romans 8:29…
When we“grieve the Holy Spirit of God”, our sin interferes with the sweet fellowship the Christian would otherwise have, if they were walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16)… This term means that the Christian is Spirit filled (Ephesians 5:18-20), as they live in a continuous state of awareness of what the Holy Spirit is urging them to do…and they do their best to always obey His instructions for righteous living… When sins are committed…a prayer confessing and seeking forgiveness of those sins should be made to the Lord, based on scripture written by the Apostle John, in…1 John 1:9…
Heavenly Father, I am ever so thankful that as Christians, our sins have been paid for by the shed blood of Your Son Jesus Christ on the cross… Help all of Your children to live up to the holy calling we have been graced with, as we do our very best to walk in sweet fellowship with You… I pray for this fullness of Christ for all of us, in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…
written by bruce r mills
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