An Antidote for Anger
Hebrews 12:15 Be careful that no one fails to get God's grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group.
With all the pressure that we seem to be under these days, anger is increasingly becoming an issue. We’re more connected today than we were a generation ago.
Emails, messaging apps, phone calls. Many bosses expect their employees to answer emails in the evenings, on weekends, even while they’re on holidays. There are more people, more traffic, cities are becoming more and more crowded. There seems to be more competition for that job or that promotion.
The pressure is steadily rising, and as we feel more and more under pressure, that release valve, that vent that we call anger is something that we turn to more and more often. And the more other people get angry with us, the more we get angry with them. It’s a vicious cycle.
So, what’s the answer? I’m not talking about an answer at the macro level; I’m talking about an answer at the micro level. What’s the answer for you and for me?
Grace is something we don’t deserve. It’s what happened on the Cross where Jesus was crucified. It’s the place where God’s justice fused with His love to let His Son take the punishment on our behalf. And when those two things fuse – justice and love – it turns into this thing called grace.
Out of His love, God forgives us by sacrificing His Son to satisfy His sense of justice and anger. That’s good news for us, that’s grace and, listen to this, it’s the antidote for anger. God’s grace is meant to make a difference in our lives. It’s meant to make a difference in how we treat other people.
Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group. (Hebrews 12:15)
Grace takes anger away because it heals us; because when we come to grips with grace, when we come to grips with how much God has forgiven us and the cost to Him of doing that in His Son, it imparts grace into our lives, into how we treat other people.
God’s grace is the only antidote to this rising tide of bitterness and anger that I’ve ever come across.
Be careful that you don’t fail to get a hold of God’s grace.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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