Be Slow to Anger - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

"Let everyone be . . . slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20). If you resent God’s Word, you cannot grow in righteousness.

Have you ever started reading your Bible, thinking everything was fine between you and the Lord, only to have the Word suddenly cut deep into your soul to expose some sin you had neglected or tried to hide? That commonly happens because God seeks to purge sin in His children. The Holy Spirit uses the Word to penetrate the hidden recesses of the heart to do His convicting and purifying work. How you respond to that process is an indicator of the genuineness of your faith.

"Anger" in James 1:19-20 refers to a negative response to that process. It is a deep internal resentment accompanied by an attitude of rejection. Sometimes that resentment can be subtle. Paul described those who "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires" (2 Tim. 4:3). They're the people who drift from church to church in search of someone who will tell them what they want to hear—or a congregation that wants a pastor who will make them feel good about themselves instead of preaching the Word and setting a high standard of holiness.

Sometimes resentment toward the Word ceases to be subtle and turns to open hostility. That happened when the crowd Stephen confronted covered their ears, drove him out of the city, and stoned him to death (Acts 7:57-60). Countless others throughout history have felt the fatal blows of those whose resentment of God's truth turned to hatred for His people.

Receiving the Word includes being quick to hear what it says and slow to anger when it disagrees with your opinions or confronts your sin. Is that your attitude? Do you welcome its reproof and heed its warnings, or do you secretly resent it? When a Christian brother or sister confronts a sin in your life, do you accept or reject their counsel?

-Thank God for the power of His Word to convict you and drive you to repentance. Welcome its correction with humility and thanksgiving.

-Read 2 Timothy 4:1-5, noting the charge Paul gave to Timothy and his reason for giving it.

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I have a small thing on my bulletin board.

“Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance,
my calmness for acceptance and my
kindness for weakness.”

I try hard not to get angry - or at least to show it. I’ve never thought that that getting angry at someone (or something) ever helps the situation.

My daughter asked me about it, and if I was always that way. I had to think back - perhaps I have been. I recall making models with a buddy, probably 5th or 6th grade. He would get so mad when the parts would slip before the glue dried, or whatever. Finally he picked the entire thing up and threw it across the room.

I know I got frustrated, but just figured out that making models wasn’t for me.

It shocked my when my mom told me that my old man used to have anger issues - he was one of the kindest people I knew. Mom said he had to work on it though to overcome it.

Although there was the one time when I locked my bedroom door on him. He quietly asked me twice to open it up so we could talk. Family is about speaking with one another.

Then the door came crashing in, with his 160 pound frame close behind. Luckily the window was open and it was on the ground floor. I don’t recall what happened when I came back for dinner.

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