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The Bible Says
Ron Lee Davis has written a little book entitled, “A Forgiving God, in an Unforgiving World.” The title alone speaks to my heart. We live in an angry, unforgiving world and whether or not we care to admit it, we Christians do get angry occasionally. I am quoting several passages from this book, because I believe He has a message we all need. One heading reads:
The Old Testament Alone contains over 450 occurrences of the Hebrew word for anger. Indeed, the majority of these passages refer to the anger of God. It’s important, however, to understand the nature of God’s character, even in those times when He became angry. God never held grudges against His people, no matter how far they strayed from His love and His law. Rather, the prophet Nehemiah was able to praise God because He stood by the Israelites, loving them unconditionally even when they forsook Him and committed awful blasphemies. “You are a forgiving God,” says Nehemiah 9:17, “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” Though sojourners in an unforgiving world, the children of Israel served a forgiving, compassionate God—the same God of forgiveness we serve today. In the New Testament, James encourages us to build into our character the same qualities Nehemiah depicts in God’s character: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,” James says. And then he draws a clear distinction between God’s anger and ours: “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” Times of frustration and provocation are inevitable in life. We all know that. Anger is a fact of life, and indeed a fact of the Christian life. We may well wonder, is there a proper place in the church for the expression of anger? Is it God’s will that we remove feelings of anger from our lives? Or does He offer in His Word a way to express love, acceptance, and forgiveness even during times of anger? These are the central questions that the follower of Jesus Christ must answer about anger and forgiveness. These are the questions we will attempt to squarely face. . . The problem in the church today is that tender Christians generally need to become a little more tough, and tough Christians generally need to become a little more tender. This is a vital balance to find if we are really going to be conformed into the image of Christ. If we fail to find that balance, we will ultimately settle toward one extreme or the other, and in the end we will have two kinds of Christians in the church: the tender Christians who have softened into mere weak sentimentalists, and the tough Christians who have hardened into harsh, unyielding Pharisees. . . Ann Kiemel, in her cassette tape message called Hi, I’m Ann!, tells a tragic story. On one of her trips to a speaking engagement, Ann was picked up at the airport by a married couple, friends she hadn’t seen since college. In their arms they carried Paula, their little girl, who had braces on her legs, the result of cerebral palsy. As they were getting into the car, Paula climbed into Ann’s lap and said, “Ann, I have a new baby brother.” Seeing no baby, Ann asked, “Where is he?” Paula’s mother turned around from the front seat and said, “Ann, Paula doesn’t understand. God did give us a little baby boy a few months ago, but he only lived for a few weeks.” She went on to explain that after their baby died, they became angry with God. They asked him, “Why did this happen? Why was this baby born perfect and healthy and normal, only to die a few weeks later from a sudden and unexpected respiratory infection? Why was he snatched from us so suddenly?” “And Ann,” she concluded, “we still don’t have all the answers, but we’re working it through. Our anger and our pain has gradually been replaced by His peace. And even though we don’t understand why He took our baby away, we do understand that He’s given us a ministry to other parents who have lost little babies. And He’s given us a ministry to other parents of children with cerebral palsy, like Paula. We’re reaching scores of people for Christ who could never have been reached otherwise, and we’re thankful to God for that.” ----A FORGIVING GOD IN AN UNFORGIVING WORLD, pages 143-153 The folks you don’t like, don’t like you. I don’t know why this should be so but just the same I always know, That when I’m sour, friends are few, When I’m friendly, folks are too. I sometimes get up in the morn, Awishin’ I was never born. And then I make cross remarks, a few, And then my family wishes, too, That I had gone some other place, But then I change my little tune, And sing and smile, And then the folks around me sing and smile, I guess it was catching all the while. It’s a funny thing but true, The folks you like, sure like you.
-Uncle Ben’s Quote Book |