“Let all bitterness and wrath and
anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice”
(Ephesians 4:31)
There is so much ANGER in the world today! That’s
undoubtedly the way it always has been, but it seems so much more NOTICEABLE
than it was a few decades ago. My second career was in the mortgage banking
industry and I remember in those years going into what we now call “trashed”
houses. They were mostly repossessions – the homes were taken by the
mortgage insuring company, usually in the U.S. in those days, by the FHA (the Federal Housing
Administration) or by the VA (the Veterans Administration).
Many of the repossessions (or “repos” as we called them)
were in fine condition and most were ready to be on the market once more, but
some were destroyed inside. They were terribly damaged by someone; probably the
previous owners. I never actually thought about anger in
relation to such damages – my only thought at the time was that the
marketability of such a property was disappointingly limited because of its
condition.
But a recent article on the editorial page of local
newspaper called, “Messy Divorces, Evicted Homeowners Don’t Always Leave
Gracefully,” started me thinking about such homes. The article cited “some cities, such as Las Vegas (Nevada), where nearly two out of
every 100 homes are in foreclosure.” Isn’t that incredible? If you drive
or walk past a neighborhood of 50 homes, at least one of those homes is being
foreclosed and the “owners” must go!
And how do those who are being foreclosed feel about it?
According to the newspaper article – they’re very angry! When they bought the
home or refinanced it, many took some kind of “adjustable” mortgage and
subsequently the payments went up, or one of the owners lost their job, or they
got a divorce. They are losing the home and are ANGRY about it! What they do,
according to the article, includes: “abandoning their pets
inside homes, punching holes in walls and removing appliances and fixtures that
legally belong to the banks.” The article stated that “Some who are forced to leave their dream homes pour paint or oil
on carpets in every room, smash light fixtures and windows…” etc.
Incredibly the article continued that “banks are actually paying people to leave – but only if they
don’t trash the house… (giving) offers of up to
$1,000 ‘cash for keys,'” if they leave the house without damaging it. “In one case in Nevada, a man facing foreclosure spurned a $500
offer to leave without trashing the house… (and)
the bank wound up raising its offer to $2,800” for the house to be left “clean and whole.” As a society, we’ve lost our moral
compass. Much like many parents pay their children to mind or get good grades,
places like banks pay former customers to not destroy their homes.
Billy Sunday, a famous evangelist of the early 20th
Century, who lived from 1862 to 1935, was an exceptionally fast runner and
became a gifted professional baseball player before he trusted in the Lord. The
same God who gave him legs that let him run fast, also gave him answers. A lady once came to him after one of his crusades, trying to rationalize
her angry outbursts. "There's nothing wrong with losing my
temper," she said. "I blow up, and then it's all
over." "So does a shotgun," Sunday replied,
"and look at the damage it leaves behind!"
Our anger can not only destroy our careers and our
homes, it can also ruin our children. If we display
outbursts of rage or other more subtle expressions of anger, our
children will become just like us, and we wonder, why are they like that? What
has become of this world? Not realizing that we are part of the problem.
An author for the U.S. magazine “Reader's
Digest,” wrote about preparing for an article through a study of the
Amish people. At the local school yard, he noted that Amish children never
screamed or yelled like so many other children, which amazed him. He spoke to
the schoolmaster about them. He said he had not once heard an Amish child yell,
and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The schoolmaster replied, "Well, have you ever heard an Amish ADULT yell?" If we are
calm and gentle, our children likely will be, too.
The Amish religion teaches adult baptism a commitment to
the church, belief in the Trinity, the virgin birth, incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection ascension, and atonement of Jesus Christ, heaven and
hell. They believe that salvation is a gift from God through unmerited grace,
and that the inerrant Bible is inspired by God. Those who are “Evangelical” or “Fundamentalist”
Christians sometimes criticize groups like the Amish, but you might ask, have
you ever heard an Evangelical or Fundamentalist yell?
The answer all too often is – Yes! “Evangelical” people
often harshly criticize other groups and yell at not only their families, but also
complain about other Christians. That reminds me of Charles De Gaulle, the
famous French general who later became President of France. He worked closely
with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, during World War II. De Gaulle
once said about himself, about Churchill, and about their relationship with one
another: "When I am right, I get angry. Churchill gets
angry when he is wrong. So we were very often angry at each other." Do
you ever see that assumption in church? – “I’m right;
therefore that other person is wrong!”
Our Scripture verse for today is -“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be
put away from you, along with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31). In Churches,
unlike apparently the Amish Church, attitudes like “bitterness…
wrath and anger” all too often lurk beneath the
surface of those smiling faces. We need to get rid of our anger, and the context
of today’s Scripture verse tells us how to do it.
We are to become people of truth and love as it says in
Ephesians 4:15 – “speaking the truth in love;” and
at last “grow up… into Him
who is the Head, even Christ.” Contrary to what some teach, our old
nature does not somehow vanish when we trust in the Lord. Our old attitudes and
ways are still with us. Paul the Apostle called it the “old
self” or the “old man.” When we
accept the Lord we acquire the “new self,”
the “new man” in Christ, and both natures exist
within us. We are to simply and prayerfully make a choice – to “lay aside” our old ways and “put on”
the new (Ephesians 4:22-24). We must decide to be honest, no longer denying our
shortcomings; instead taking them to the Lord for healing, at last “grow(ing) up…
into… Christ.” We go
to Him in prayer and HE
enables us to become “kind to one another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave - you”
(Ephesians 3:32).
Father, we bring You our pride, our anger and our
unforgiveness. What we cannot do, You can, and we come as sinners in need of
repentance. Forgive us, heal us, and please heal our church, our land, for we
are sorely in need of You. In Jesus Name. Amen.
