Day 2
That was random!
A few years ago
I noticed that kids were using a new phrase to describe when one of their peers
had an outburst that didn’t seem appropriate to the circumstances – they would
say “That was random!” It was a good way
to describe what happened. It was indeed random to those who were
watching. However, it was not so to the
one having the outburst. Something
inside of the person caused it. Paroxysms are not random.
Angry eruptions
do not come from nowhere. They indicate
a deficit of higher love in our hearts. They
indicate that there are pockets of self-centeredness, roots of bitterness. That is why today we must take the time to
research our hearts and identify the root of our anger. God’s love has been poured out into our
hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).
The capacity to love, to keep calm, is planted within us when we are
born again by the Spirit. What we must
identify is what is crowding out love and influencing our hearts toward irritability,
making us touchy, so that we erupt in anti-love behavior.
When a person is
easily provoked, usually it is the result of something that is underneath the
surface. Again quoting Henry Drummond
from 1880,
It
is the occasional bubble that escapes to the surface and betrays some
rottenness underneath, a sample of the hidden products of the soul, dropped
involuntarily when one is off guard. In
a word, the lightening form of a hundred hidden and unchristian sins, for want
of patience, for want of kindness, for want of generosity, for want of
courtesy, for want of unselfishness, all of these are instantaneously
symbolized in the one flash of anger we call temper…Hence it is not enough to
deal with the temper. We must go to the
source, and change the inmost nature, and the angry humours will die away of
themselves.
The language is
old, but the words ring true! The idea
is this: when we find ourselves prone to outbursts we must look beyond
self-control, merely managing the behavior.
That is a good start, because it will keep us from inflicting our
poisonous eruptions onto others. But
beyond simply stopping the incidents we need to ask “Why am I so angry?” and
get to the root of bitterness and anger.
Otherwise, the volcano will erupt again!
For example, I
have counseled people who over the years have been quick tempered in their
marital relationship. When we sit down
to talk, the anger is not caused by the marriage, but that is merely the
relationship that is suffering because of his anger. The anger comes from something prior to the
marriage. As he searches his heart and
life he is able to identify the root cause of his anger. As he reveals this and then deals with what
he is really angry about there is hope that his marriage will become much
healthier and healing can take place. Often there is a need to go beyond
dealing with the root cause in the heart to make amends with those who were
hurt by many angry eruptions.
Eruptions are
not random. There is a root cause. As we deal with the root cause of our
irritability we find that we are now open to the love of God more than ever
before. He can capture our hearts and
unleash His love in our lives. His love
in us empowers us to keep calm. Love is
not easily angered.
Questions for Discussion
Last week we
focused on the areas of our lives that have been impacted negatively by angry
eruptions, whether dishing it out or receiving it. Think now about your heart. If you struggle with your temper, with
irritability, with outbursts…why? Why
are you angry? These are difficult
questions. They are essential.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Are there people
you need to talk to about this? People
you need to apologize to for angry outbursts?
People you need to talk to about the impact their irritability has had
on you?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nothing is more
important to experiencing the non-irritability of love than being filled with
the love of God. This is the focus of
Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3. Pray this
prayer…
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all
generations, forever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians
3:14-21
No comments:
Post a Comment