Lent Day #30

Ephesians 4:25-32 (NRSV)
25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

THOUGHTS:
Verse 26: "Be angry but do not sin ..."
Verse 31: "Put away from you all ... anger ..."

Sometimes it seems we are given mixed messages. Yet, maybe we aren't. Jesus appears to get angry (for example with the moneychangers in the temple ... and in other passages with the Pharisees). Yet we are told he never sinned. The key may be that the feeling passes: "... do not let the sun go down on your anger ..." Is there a righteous anger?

Anger seems so negative to me. It can eat me up inside. It can lash out in damaging ways. It can certainly be a factor in my sin, but maybe it isn't the anger that is sinful, but how I deal with it. How do we find constructive and positive ways to deal with our anger?

This passage is so jam-packed. Look back at the beginning -- why do we speak truth to our neighbors (fellow humans)? Verse 25 says that "we are members of one another." Think about that. Doesn't it mean that you are part of me and I am part of you? That you are part of your enemy and your enemy is part of you?

How does that make you feel? How does it affect the way you think about your actions?

Does that allow you to follow verse 31, putting aside all anger, bitterness, and malice. Does seeing yourself in others help you to be kind and forgiving?

Verse 32 is so powerful to me. It says to forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven. We are told that God forgives in such a way that the sin is not even remembered. (Look back at to Isaiah 43:25 - discussed Lent Day #24). 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says:

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Through Christ, God reconciled the world to God -- effectively erasing all of our shortcomings from the mind and memory of God. Take a minute to let that soak in -- it still blows my mind sometimes. Now look at verse 32 again: that's the kind of forgiveness we are to practice.

Read the passage above one last time. There is more there than I touched upon. What details are still tugging at you?

PRAYER:

Dearest God, your forgiveness is so vast that we sometimes forget to acknowledge it. We struggle to accept the knowledge that your forgiveness of us is so complete. We also have trouble embracing the thought that might immerse our enemies in this same forgiveness. Help us to forgive all those around us with your kind of forgiveness. Help us to see the world through your loving eyes. In Christ. AMEN.

NOTES:

Remember that you can always find the devotions for past days at http://lentendevotions.blogspot.com/

You may even find more hyperlinks in the posts there to help you cross reference past posts or get more information on a person that gets quoted in a post.