Be Kind, Forgive - Ephesians 4:31-32

 

And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. Ephesians 4:31-32

God’s children are kind.

I’m His child, so I forgive. Why? Because I am forgiven EVERYTHING!

But I can’t forgive. I can’t control my anger.

And I say stuff about other people, even believers. In frustration. So It’s okay. I was frustrated, right?

I can’t control this. Not when I’m actually angry.

That’s not what it says.

Deep breath.

Let. All.

I can’t do this. I know I can’t. I’m just not this good, this righteous.

What about Jesus? Was He righteous? Yes. What did He say about doing things on His own?

In John 5:30, Jesus says that He can nothing on His own. JESUS said it.

If Jesus doesn’t do it on His own, why in the world do I think I can take things over?

So here’s what I got so far… I must be kind. I must be compassionate. I must be forgiving.

And I must let go of bitterness, anger, and wrath.

Jesus help me.

I might be able to hide my issues with all of those. I might in denial say, “I don’t have a sin issue with bitterness, anger, and wrath. I’m forgiving. I’m kind. Right?"

But here’s the revealing one for me. Shouting.

When I get filled up and overflowing with frustration, I shout. I do. There’s no denying it.

It doesn’t happen every day. Probably not even every week.

But it does happen. See in my career, I’ve been a middle school teacher.

Here’s the part where most people let me off the hook. And that’s nice and all, but the Word of God doesn’t let me off. He says all.

And He makes it clear that this IS in my Holy-Spirit-empowered control; He uses that little tiny word, let.

Let.

That means I can do this.

Now, don’t get me wrong, one second before I open my mouth to shout is usually too late for me to go all calm, kind, and gentle. The preparation for this typically happens before the stressful situation comes.

Sure, it can happen. Just saying his name, Jesus, in desperation, is all I might need to keep from erupting. And even in that second, it is important to lean on Him.

But by His grace, this must be a lifestyle of kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. I need to practice all of those when I want to bite. And I can’t be hiding all of these feelings and calling it good. Jesus says they must be removed not hidden. I must depend on Him regularly.

I must take every opportunity to depend on Him. EVERY.

These attacks of impatience, frustration, and anger are all divine opportunities for me to “let.” They aren’t unimportant events. Every event is a God inspired opportunity for Him to get the glory.

Lord, I have not taken every thought captive as you require. And it all sounds too hard for me to do. But even you said that you could do nothing on your own. You were depending upon the Father. May I depend on you, my thrice holy God, to give me grace to let. Let anger, malice, and bitterness be removed from me. And shouting too. You are the Prince of Peace. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.