Proven Faith Is More Precious than Gold

Paul Tautges

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
    and backward, but I do not perceive him;
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
    he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
    when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”

Job 23:8-10

God ordains trials to enter our lives in order to test the reality of our faith in a way that is similar to the process of purifying precious metals. Gold, for example, is purified through various means, including high temperature heating or chemical exposure. One such method is called the Miller process, which “uses gaseous chlorine to extract impurities when gold is at melting point; impurities separate into a layer on the surface of the molten purified gold.”[1] Those impurities are then skimmed off the surface, leaving gold that is purer and more valuable. If perishable gold is valuable enough for man to go through painstaking processes to refine it, what must God be willing to do to ensure that our imperishable faith becomes even more precious?

According to Scripture, God at times turns up the thermostat of our life. He heats up the smelting furnace of affliction in order to reveal the imperfections already present in our hearts, so that they can be skimmed off. He does not do this to discourage or defeat us, but to prove the reality of our faith. We are “grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of [our] faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7). Commenting on these verses, Greek scholar, Kenneth Wuest, provides a beautiful illustration of God’s refining fire.

The illustration is that of the ancient goldsmith who refines the crude gold ore in his crucible. The pure metal is mixed with much foreign material from which it must be separated. The only way to bring about this separation is to reduce the ore to liquid form. The impurities rise to the surface and are then skimmed off. But intense heat is needed to liquefy this ore. So the goldsmith puts his crucible in the fire, reduces the ore to a liquid state and skims off the impurities. When he can see the reflection of his face clearly mirrored in the surface of the liquid, he knows that the contents are pure gold. The smelting process has done its work.

Christian suffering, whether it be in the form of persecution because of a Christlike life, or whether it comes to us in the form of the trials and testings which are the natural accompaniment of a Christlike life, such as illness, sorrow, or financial losses, is always used by a God of love to refine our lives. It burns out the dross, makes for humility, purifies and increases our faith, and enriches our lives. And like the goldsmith of old, God keeps us in the smelting furnace until He can see the reflection of the face of the Lord Jesus in our lives. God is not so much interested in how much work we do for Him, as He is in how much we resemble His Son.[2]

God’s big, long-term goal for each and every believer is “to be conformed to the image of Christ” (Rom. 8:29). When we allow fiery trials to thrust us upon the mercy of the Lord and motivate us to put off sin, and put on the new self, we experience the certainty of “being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col 3:10). As we make sometimes-slow, gradual progress toward spiritual maturity, we become more like Christ. This is the usefulness of the spiritual smelting process of suffering.

Job, an Old Testament hero of the faith, understood this picture. The furnace of Job’s affliction was turned up very, very hot when Satan was permitted to attack Job’s family, health, financial stability, character, and reputation (Job 1-2). Satan meant all of these targeted attacks for evil, but God meant them for good. In fact, it was God who first said to the devil, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:8). On the other side of his family tragedy and loss of all earthly security, Job was able to testify of God’s faithfulness: “when he has tried me, I shall come out [of the smelting pot] as gold” (Job 23:10). This is a statement of Job’s faith, even though he could not see the specific ways of God while in the midst of his trial: “I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him.” Nonetheless, in the end, Job’s faith was proven. When his particular season of suffering was over, Job could pray to God, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (Job 42:5). A renewed awareness and deeper knowledge of God had been attained.

The teaching of Scripture is clear. In order to produce a godly, mature Christian, God increases the temperature of life in order to turn our hearts more devotedly toward him. He melts our faith in order to bring to the surface remaining sin and unbelief that’s already in our hearts, but which we may be blinded from seeing or too stubborn to address. By doing so the Holy Spirit matures our faith, making it more precious than any earthly treasure. Just as the refining process is used to remove impurities, in order to bring out the beauty of gold, so trials are used by God to refine and bring out the beauty of our faith. Looking into the heart that is devoted to Jesus, while it is being refined through suffering, the Father sees the image of his Son progressively revealed. The end result is the glory and pleasure of God.

You may want to take time to read the first two chapters of the book of Job. Then meditate on Job’s worshipful response in Job 2:21. Pray this verse back to God in your own words, according to the particular difficulties of your trial.

[1] “Processing, Smelting, and Refining God,” https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-refining, accessed November 9, 2020.

[2] Kenneth S. Wuest, “Bypaths” in Wuest’s Word Studies – Volume III (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973, orig. 1940), 73-74.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/11/10/proven-faith-is-more-precious-than-gold/

When You’re Tired of the Battle, Persevere in Prayer

Colin Smith

Most people can put up with trouble for a while. But when the problems keep coming, they begin to wear you down. You start to wonder, “How long will this continue?”

Maybe you’re fighting to hold your marriage together, or you have a rebellious son or daughter who is bringing you pain. You’ve been dealing with family issues for some time, and it’s not easy to keep going.

Maybe you’re battling a particular sin. You think you are making progress. Then suddenly that old sin rears its ugly head. The battle just goes on and on. You’re tired of it.

Maybe you work in an environment where everything is affirmed, except faith in Christ and the pursuit of a godly life. You are facing the ongoing erosion of an increasingly hostile culture. You’re different and, over time, it is beginning to wear you down.

Maybe you have been called to serve in extraordinary circumstances. You’re facing the struggle of sustaining ministry. Anyone who serves God wholeheartedly will know what it is to come to the place of saying, “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. How much more can I take?”

How can I have more patience with my children? How can I persevere in ministry? How can I build stability and endurance into my life? How can I be the kind of person who goes the distance as a Christian in this hostile world?

Everyone has a battle to face, and there will be times when you get tired of yours. The obvious question is, “How can I get more perseverance?”

Perseverance is the Fruit of Faith and Love

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing (2 Thess. 1:3).

These are the words God spoke through the apostle Paul to a community of believers in a town called Thessalonica. This church was born in great difficulties (Act 17). Paul spent three weeks in this town proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ, and many people came to faith in Christ through his preaching. But as soon as the church was established, the new believers experienced opposition. Paul wrote these words to encourage them by the fruit he saw in their lives.

Faith Growing

Paul told the Thessalonians, “Your faith is growing.” It is a wonderful thing to have faith in Christ. But what is happening to your faith? Is it growing?

When the disciples found themselves in a storm, they panicked. And Jesus said, “Where is your faith?” He wasn’t saying, “You haven’t got it.” Clearly, they had faith. They were his followers. He was saying, “You aren’t using it!”

What about you? Are you exercising faith by applying it to the particular battles that you are facing?

Faith is confidence in the ultimate triumph of God. That’s what you need when you are struggling with difficult relationships, stubborn sins, discouragement in ministry, and the hostility of an unbelieving world.

Love Increasing

Jesus tells us that the one who has been forgiven little, loves little; and the one who has been forgiven much, loves much (Luke 7:47). In 2 Thessalonians 1:3, Paul is thanking God that the love among believers is increasing. Growing faith and increasing love are God’s work in the hearts of these believers.

How does it happen that faith can grow and love can increase, even when a believer is under pressure? It is irrefutable evidence that God is at work in your life. Just as it is in the nature of grass to grow, in the same way it is in the nature of love to be patient and faith to persevere. Christ causes His people to persevere by growing their faith and increasing their love. Patience, steadfastness, stability, and endurance are nourished by the deep roots of faith and love.

Perseverance Changes the Way You Pray

How should you pray when you are worn out, discouraged, and weary of the battle? You could pray, “Lord, give me patience.” That would be good. But a better way to pray is to ask God to increase your love and to renew your confidence in his ultimate triumph.

You can pray about the surface issue, but you will pray better if your prayer touches the root of the problem. Underneath all your struggles with patience and perseverance, you will find a faith that is losing heart and a love that is growing cold.

Maybe you’ve been praying for an unbelieving loved one for years and nothing has happened. You’re getting discouraged. You can say to the Lord, “Help me to persevere in prayer.” But a better way to pray would be to ask God to increase your faith in His ability to change this person and to increase your love for this person with whom you are probably now feeling very impatient.

Suppose you are caring for young children. The demands on you are constant, and as time has gone on you find that you are getting short tempered and impatient. You see what’s happening and you want to change. So, how do you pray? You can ask the Lord to help you be more patient with your children. But when you know that patience is the fruit of faith and love, a better way to pray is to ask God to fill your heart with His love for these children and to give you a new confidence in what He can make of their lives.

Maybe you are battling again with the same old sin. You are discouraged by your many failures, and you are tired of the battle. Ask the Lord to increase your faith in His power to overcome this evil in your life. Ask God to help you love Him more than you love the sin that besets you.

God is the One who makes faith and love grow, so ask Him to do it specifically in relation to your battle. God will use the hardest things in your life to make you like Christ.

Jesus endured what he suffered by exercising faith. “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he trusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet. 2:23). That’s faith! Jesus was surrounded by darkness, but He put his faith in the ultimate triumph of God!

Jesus also endured through love. How could he stay on that cross? People were shouting for Him to come down. What made Him stay there? “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for His friends” (John 15:13).

Christ persevered through faith and He endured through love. When others see you enduring great trials because your faith is growing and your love is increasing, they will also see a reflection of Jesus Christ in you.

Posted at: https://unlockingthebible.org/2020/10/dont-give-up-when-tired-of-battle/

The Power of Sin in the Life of an Unbeliever

Colin Smith

The unbelieving person does not see anything of the splendor of Christ and does not yet have the life of Christ in his or her soul. So, what does the secret power of sin look like in the life of your unbelieving friend, relative, or neighbor?

Sin is a secret power, working in the soul. 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 gives us a devastating analysis of its power and effect. Sin produces bitter fruit in a person’s life. This is what sin does.

[Satan] will use…every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

Seven Bitter Fruits of Sin 

1. Deception

…every sort of evil that deceives…  (2 Thess. 2:10).

Notice that the Scripture says, “evil… deceives.” Satan makes sin look attractive. This is the nature of sin; it always does that.

Some sin will disgust you. You will wonder to yourself, “How could anyone do that?” But some forms of sin will be attractive to you. That is where Satan deceives, and it goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.

2. Perishing

… evil that deceives those who are perishing. (2 Thess. 2:10).

Notice the present tense. There is a theme that runs right through the life of a person who is without Jesus Christ. There is an unraveling of life that is going on now, a taking down, a becoming less. This is a process that has already begun. By nature, we are perishing.

3. Refusal to love the truth

They perish because they refused to love the truth… (2 Thess. 2:10).

These people heard the truth and refused to believe it. But the real issue here is that they refused to love it. The heart governs the life more than the head. The greatest barrier to faith lies not in the doubts of the mind but in the desires of the heart.

4. Delight in wickedness

…all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thess. 2:12).

“Delight[ing] in wickedness” is the explanation of “not believ[ing] the truth.” Where the heart loves wickedness, the mind cannot embrace the truth. It’s impossible! Jesus said, “How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from… God?” (John 5:44).

5. Powerful delusion

For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion… (2 Thess. 2:11).

The reason is that they refused to love the truth. This is looking down the line of what happens when a person persists in resisting and pushing Christ away. Here are folks who’ve heard the truth and they’ve refused it.

You cannot get away from God’s activity here: God sends. God gives them what they desire. They do not want the truth, and so now they’re unable to receive it.

I want to press home on all who’ve not yet received Christ, the danger of continuing to refuse Him.  As you hear the Word, some of you are putting off a response to Jesus, “I’ll become a Christian later.  I’ll respond to God in my own time.”  Even right now you would push away Jesus Christ.

You say, “I can become a Christian later,” but you may not be able to. The secret power of sin is at work in you. That’s why the Bible says repeatedly, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:15).  Warren Wiersbe says it well:

“The human heart becomes harder each time the sinner rejects God’s truth.” [1]

You feel Him reaching out to you and you’re pushing him away. Every time you hear the Word of God something happens in your soul. The Word of God that you are hearing today will make you softer or it will make you more resistant to Christ.  It never leaves you the same.

Jesus said, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer.  Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you” (John 12:35).  Sinners refuse to love the truth, and down the line they end up with a delusion. They can no longer see what they used to see.

This is how God’s judgment works in this world. God gives sinners what they want. That is why a life of resisting God and running from God ends up in an eternity apart from God—in the darkness, with the God-haters, outside the light and the joy of His presence.

6. Faith in the lie

God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thess. 2:11).

“The lie” goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden when Satan said, “You will be like God” (Gen. 3:5). “You’re a good person. You don’t need Christ’s sacrifice. You can work it out yourself.”

When a man feels that he is the captain and commander of his own life, that he is his own god, his own law and that he can stand on the merits of his own goodness, you know that he has swallowed the lie. He is living under a powerful delusion.

7. Condemnation

…all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness (2 Thess. 2:12).

“Condemnation” is a terrible word. Don’t you shudder when you hear it? We rejoice in Romans 8:1 that says, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, but the reason that has meaning for us is found right here in 2 Thessalonians 2:12.

To those who have resisted the claims of the Savior, who have not loved the truth but have believed the lie, Christ will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me!” (Matt. 7:3). Then, there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30). Did you know that Jesus said that phrase seven times? I do not want that for you. Those who pray for you do not want that for you.

These seven bitter fruits of sin show us why we need a Savior. Jesus Christ has come into the world because we need saving from the mystery of sin that is at work in every human life.

_____

This article is an adaptation of Pastor Colin’s sermon, “The Lord Jesus Christ: Coming in Glory”, from his series, Staying the Course (When You’re Tired of the Battle.

1. Warren Wiersbe, Be Ready: Living in the Light of Christ’s Return (Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1979), 153.

Photo: Pixabay

How to Seek Your Joy in God

Article by David Mathis

Come, everyone who thirsts,
     come to the waters; . . .
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
     and delight yourselves in rich food. (Isaiah 55:1–2)

It is almost too good to be true that God not only saves us from the eternal punishment we deserve for our sin, but he also satisfies us forever with himself. And this is the very joy for which we were made. God is not the cosmic killjoy many of us may have feared in our youth. Rather, he is the God who, in Christ, stretches out his arms to us, saying, “Come, all who are thirsty!”

But how do we “come to the waters” day in and day out in the Christian life? How do we “eat what is good” and delight ourselves in rich food for our souls? How do I practically seek my joy in him?

The answer begins with the vital truth that God gives us means. He gives us the dignity of participating in the process, of availing ourselves of the specific channels he has built for us. And he works in us to cultivate and take up various “habits of grace,” based on his revealed means of grace, in our pursuit of joy in him.

Habits for Hedonists

Over the years, I have found long lists of specific practices and disciplines (whether twelve, or fifteen, or more) to be minimally helpful, and often discouraging. What I needed was to press in through the particular practical manifestations and find the God-given principles that wove them together.

“God stops and stoops, bending his ear to listen to us. He wants to hear from you.”

One way, among others, to capture the matrix of God’s grace for the Christian life is in three great means: (1) hear God’s voice (in his word), (2) have his ear (in prayer), and (3) belong to his body (in the fellowship of the local church). So far as I can tell, all scripturally-directed “spiritual disciplines” cluster to one or more of these three centers: word, prayer, and fellowship. The book of Acts brings them together, for instance, in its summary of the collective habits of the early church: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

Our various habits of grace, then, are the practices we develop (both individually and corporately) for daily and weekly access to God’s ongoing, soul-sustaining means of grace for the satisfying of our souls in Christ. In particular, these three categories of God’s ongoing grace play a vital role in feeding our joy in ways that make God look good.

Welcome His Word

The very words of God himself, through his apostles and prophets in the Scriptures, are the first and foremost means of his grace to us. The God who is is a speaking God. He speaks first. He, as Creator, takes the initiative to address us as his creatures. And he, as our Savior, takes the initiative to tell us about our rescue. His own Son is the climactic expression of his Word (John 1:1; Hebrews 1:1–2), and he has filled for us — from Genesis to Revelation — a Book of his external, objective words about himself, our race, our world, and our redemption.

Through his word, he extends to us the particular joy of being led, of receiving the initiative he takes toward us. And he is glorified in our joy through Scripture in many ways. First, he is honored that we come to him (and not elsewhere) and treat his words as truth — that we say to him, as Peter did to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Also when we come to him honors (or dishonors) him, in terms of frequency and priority. Do we come to him regularly or irregularly, and do we prioritize his word over other influences and other activities?

How we come to him is also vital. God means for us to come hungry to his word. To come eagerly. To come hedonistically, consciously seeking to satisfy our souls in him, longing for him like newborns who “long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation” (1 Peter 2:2). God means for us to approach him, through his word, as “the fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13); to come humbly, and welcome his words (James 1:21) — even when they seem strange and startling to us — and seek to obey them, not just hearing his words, but actually doing them (James 1:22).

“The serious pursuit of joy in God is not to be a solitary existence.”

God is glorified not only through our coming hungrily, but also as we enjoy the feast, as we experience his words as “my delight” (Psalm 1:2; 119:16), as “the joy of my heart” (Psalm 119:111), as “the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16), as kindling for the fires of our joy. God is honored when we approach his words as David did in Psalm 19: as words that revive the soul (verse 7) and rejoice the heart (verse 8), more to be desired than gold (verse 10), sweeter than honey (verse 10) and greatly rewarding (verse 11).

To come to God’s word is to come to God himself. He breathes out his words to us as initiatives, invitations, and instruction in order that we might know him. How we treat his words is how we treat God himself. And as we enjoy his speaking to us in his word, he also invites us to speak back.

Enjoy His Ear

Prayer, then, is the next distinct means of his grace. By opening to us the doors of heaven through the person and work of his Son, God gives us the stunning gift of having his ear. We get to speak to him. Prayer extends to us the particular joy of mattering to God Almighty. He not only speaks to us, but he stops and stoops, bending his ear to hear us respond. God wants to hear from us.

Prayer glorifies God when we approach him as the God he says he is: as a treasure, not a killjoy; as kind, not cruel; as attentive, not distracted; as near, not distant; as caring, not apathetic; and, mark this, as our magnanimous Lord, not our domestic servant. As John Piper writes about cultivating such a hedonistic impulse in prayer, “When we humble ourselves like little children and put on no airs of self-sufficiency, but run happily into the joy of our Father’s embrace, the glory of his grace is magnified and the longing of our soul is satisfied. Our interest and his glory are one” (Desiring God, 159–160).

God is glorified in our asking him (this is, prayer) to meet our needs, as he says in Psalm 50:15: “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Through prayer, we get the joy of deliverance, while he gets the glory as Deliverer. Prayer simultaneously serves the pursuit of our joy — “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24) — and the pursuit of his glory — “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

Cherish His Church

Finally, but not least — encapsulating both his speaking to us and his hearing from us — are the corporate habits of grace. We are not alone in the Christian life. God gives us the gift of belonging to a body, called the church, the very bride of his own Son.

The reality and experience of the church extends to us the joy of belonging and togetherness. God made us for life together, not only to receive his grace through others, but also to be living, breathing means of his grace to each other. In all this, God himself is the great end and source of our joy. His gifts, rightly received, point us to him as the deepest and most enduring source of joy — our joy.

God is glorified in his people’s joy through the church in our unity in his Son, as we “together . . . with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:6). He is glorified as we receive his grace through each other as gifts from him (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). The church is the first context in which we live out the obedience and life-change which Christ calls us to, and produces in us. Our joy in him changes us, and he means for us to demonstrate such change for others to see, which begins in fellowship with others living out their joy in him, and then extending into our world.

“God is not the cosmic killjoy many of us once feared.”

The serious pursuit of joy in God is not a solitary existence. In fact, it will be, for most of us, an uncomfortably corporate journey. No doubt, we need our moments of being “alone with God” in his word and prayer, but we also will regularly receive his words together and respond to him in prayer together, as we do in corporate worship. Those who are serious about pursuing their joy in God will not be among those “neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,” but will consistently, urgently, and joyfully encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).

The camaraderie of Christian Hedonism is not a gift God means for us to wait on till the age to come. He offers it now, in this life, and makes the lives and influence of fellow Christians an irreplaceable avenue of our pursuit of joy in him, as together we welcome his words in Scripture and access his ear in prayer.

David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for desiringGod.org and pastor at Cities Church in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is a husband, father of four, and author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect: Daily Devotions for Advent.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/how-to-seek-your-joy-in-god

Help! I'm Irritable Today

Kyle Gangel

Help! I’m Irritable Today

What is it that irritates you to no end? Someone using all the hot water in the morning? The WiFi going out? Your favorite team blowing a late-game lead? Traffic? Screaming kids? The opportunities to grow irritable in a day seem endless.

I am often surprised how little it takes to grow frustrated with my circumstances or people around me. In my irritability, there is a major disparity between the size of my problem and the extent of my reaction. I often wonder if I would respond more God-pleasing to a real tragedy in my life than I do when I step on a toy left out by my kids. I’m sure I’m not alone. For many of us, there is a fit of anger lurking just beneath the surface, ready to leap out at the slightest inconvenience. Before we have time to stop and think, we’ve expressed our displeasure with biting words, a darting glare, a disgruntled sigh, or shutting down. We wonder, why am I in such a bad mood? Where is this coming from?

I’VE HAD MY COFFEE AND I’M STILL IRRITATED

We’ve all seen and laughed at the coffee jokes on social media:

“Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my coffee.”

“My favorite coworker is the coffee pot.”

“How to approach me before I’ve had coffee: Don’t!”

When it comes to irritability, coffee helps, but it is not the solution. These and other memes like them are lighthearted attempts to pin our irritability on something external to us. Unfortunately, the source of our irritability is more personal. The Bible reminds us that this behavior flows from within us. Solomon made this point in saying, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23 ESV). The hard truth is that we grow irritable when our circumstances and the people around us don’t fall in line with our expectations or desires (James 4:1-2). The people in our lives that God has given us to love become obstacles in the way of getting what we want. When we don’t get our way we lash out with a quick verbal barrage, punish with the silent treatment, seclude ourselves from others, or pout. Our irritability may look different on the outside for each individual, but the root is the same–we wanted something and didn’t get it.

It is necessary to admit that our irritability is an internal sin problem, not an external people problem. This admission is an important step towards change. When we know the source of our problem, we can find real solutions. For instance, my oldest son Brennan once shut his brother’s left hand in the sliding glass door. Harrison began screaming in pain as his hand was still stuck. Brennan, aware that something was wrong, began fervently looking his brother over to figure out what was causing the distress. Brennan looked over every square inch of Harrison except the hand that was stuck. Since Brennan couldn’t identify the real source of the problem, his solutions were inadequate. The same is true with our growth in Christ. If we identify irritability as a problem outside of us, we will work to change our circumstances, or worse, we will demand that people conform themselves to our agenda. Knowing the true problem leads to real solutions, and to that we now turn.

WHERE TO BEGIN

Remember the hope of the gospel. Irritability is necessarily self-centered. Thankfully, In Christ, we are free from living for self and empowered to live like him—patient, kind, meek, etc (1 Corinthians 5:15). Because of Christ, we can please God even amidst difficult circumstances or people. For more on this, consider a previous post from Tyler about our freedom from sin’s power.

Ask good questions. Seek to discern what exactly you are wanting when you are irritated. As G.I. Joe would say, “knowing is half the battle.” Asking simple questions like, “what is it that I’m desiring right now?” Or “what is the one thing that would change my mood right now if I could snap my fingers and get it?” The answer for me is usually comfort. I want to live a life of uninterrupted ease. When that gets compromised–I have 3 young boys; it gets compromised–I can grow irritable. For others it could be an over-desire for respect, love, attention, success, safety, order, etc. that leads to irritability.

Turn away. Knowing the heart motive behind your irritability allows you to repent more specifically to God and others. Saying, “Forgive me for desiring comfort so much that I became frustrated when you needed my help” is more helpful than simply apologizing. It acknowledges the real sin and keeps you from blaming others or the pressures you were facing.

Put on thankfulness. It is hard to be thankful and moody at the same time. When the Apostle Paul wanted to urge the Colossian believers to “bear with one another” he mentions thankfulness 3 times (see Colossians 3:12-17). Even if everything has fallen apart around you, you can be thankful for Christ, his gospel, The Spirit’s sanctifying work in you, the Father’s care and concern for you, among many other blessings we have in Christ.

IN CLOSING

In the recently released documentary Free Solo, Alex Honnold climbs 3,000 feet straight up the granite rock face of Yosemite’s El Capitan. He does this all without the safety of ropes and anchors. In other words, one slip, one mistake and he plummets to his death. Naturally, many have asked him about controlling his fear while hanging from a cliff thousands of feet above the valley floor. He said that his goal is not to push the fear out, but to expand his comfort zone. For him, focusing on removing fear is ineffective. Instead, he pours himself into preparation, practice, and planning to a point that he is comfortable with the most dangerous situations. Focusing on removing fear, creates more fear.

Similarly, focusing on the circumstances and people surrounding our irritability just exacerbates the problem. We can’t fight our irritability by merely focusing on our irritability. Instead, we ought to focus on Christ, his work for us and in us, all the blessings he has given to us, and we might just find that our irritability cannot thrive next to joy in Christ.

Posted at: https://gospelmercies.com/2019/03/27/getting-a-grip-on-irritability/

Counseling with Psalm 19

Tyler Shores

Psalm 19 is all about divine revelation, which is to say that it is all about how God has communicated Himself to us. In terms of divine revelation there are two types: general/natural revelation and special revelation. General revelation is a “term used to declare that God reveals something about the divine nature through the created order.” (Grenz, Guretzki, & Nordling, p.54). Special revelation is “God’s manifestation of himself to particular persons at definite times and places, enabling those persons to enter into a redemptive relationship with him.” (Erickson, p.201).

The beauty of Psalm 19 is that it speaks to the benefit of general revelation (v.1-6), while showing the superiority of special revelation as encountered in the Word of God (v.7-11). As we think through Psalm 19 there are three applications I want to consider in regards to biblical counseling: (1) God desires to communicate Himself to us through both the created world and the Word; (2) What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created; (3) God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us.

1. God desires to communicate Himself to us through the world He created (v.1-6).

As we read the opening lines of Psalm 19 we begin to sense that perhaps David is gazing into the skies and breathing in the vastness of God. He sees the stars, Moon, Sun and he assesses that the “heavens declare the glory of God” (v.1). David recognizes that although these created things do not have a literal voice (v.3), there is a sense in which their voice is heard throughout all the Earth (v.4). Along with Paul, David takes notice that creation is designed to communicate God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20, ESV). 

What David teaches us as counselors about general revelation is that we need to recognize the spiritual benefit of God revealing Himself to us and our counselees through creation. This is not a call to take expensive trips to remote locations but it is a call to step outside and become a student of God’s creation and consider the lilies (Matthew 6:28). 

On my desktop computer there is an incredible picture of the towering granite walls of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. I would love to visit Yosemite but logistically this is difficult. However, God’s very good creation is all around me. Even as I walk down the cracking sidewalks of my Midwest neighborhood and hear the hum of cicadas (loud bugs), the power and beauty of God are being revealed to me. It’s not quite Yosemite, but it will have to suffice because I was designed as a human to learn about God in these moments. Psalm 19:1-6 teaches us that God’s creation is useful for teaching us and our counselees about God and therefore should be engaged. 

As biblical counselors we are right to uphold the Word of God (special revelation) as essential to spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Without the Word of God there is no hope because there is no other way of being in relationship with God. As a result, our first instinct in assigning homework is often to get counselees into God’s Word. This is right and good. That being said, we should not be uncomfortable with assigning the kinds of homework which pushes the objective of revealing The spiritual benefits of engaging the created world. This could look like encouraging a counselee to take a daily walk and account for how God is good in creation. This type of assignment is certainly helpful in someone gaining a greater sense of God’s power and majesty. Perhaps, in glimpsing God’s glory in creation, our counselees will be more eager to hear and obey God’s revealed will.

1. What we learn about God from His Word takes priority over what we learn about God from the world He created (v.7-11).

As Psalm 19 unfolds David continues to speak of divine revelation but we notice a shift in subject starting in verse 7. As good and necessary as general revelation is, the focus of David’s attention becomes the Word of God (which is special revelation). David is not attempting to diminish the value of general revelation but is instead highlighting the superior value of God’s Word when both are considered. This value is articulated as David makes six bold statements concerning the benefits of God’s Word. These statements deserve careful attention but unfortunately the restraints of this blog post will not allow us the space to do so. That being said, there are a few broad observations about what David says which help us not to miss the big point:  

First, Allen Ross explains that David “uses all the major terms for the stipulations of the covenant [law, testimony, precepts, commandment, fear, rules] to call attention to the mercy and love of God.” (Ross, 469) What Ross is getting at here is the key difference between general revelation and special revelation. This difference is that the content of God’s Word is about the covenant faithful God and the salvation He provides. This is not the case with general revelation. Bavinck correctly points out that general revelation is “insufficient for human beings as sinners; it knows nothing of grace and forgiveness.” (313) We can look at the world around us and learn a lot about God but it can never bring us to the point of knowing God. 

Second, Ross goes on to say that “Because of these clear references to the covenant, the covenant name of Yahweh is used seven times.” (Ross, 469). In the first section of Psalm 19 (vv.1-6), David uses the name El for God (v.1). Whereas El is a more general name for God in the Hebrew, Yahweh is the more personal name for God (Exodus 34:6). It is no surprise that David chooses this more personal name for God when discussing the Word of God Again because it is the Word of God which makes it possible for us to be in relationship with God. 

Third, David’s statements about the spiritual benefits of God’s Word are exclusively true of God’s Word. There is nothing else in this world which can revive our souls, make us wise, cause true rejoicing in our hearts, or enlighten our eyes. The Psalmist views the Word of God as something uniquely precious and rightly so. The benefits of Scripture are unparalleled. 

The application that the Psalmist’s high regard of God’s Word has in the counseling room is straightforward. If we want to be people who feel and experience God as He is then we must be people who are engaging with the Word of God and people who are doers of the Word. Likewise, we cannot consider ourselves to be doing the work of biblical counseling until we busy ourselves with helping people engage God’s Word and the life giving hope of God’s Word. In the counseling room we want to be men and women who speak the Bible, demonstrate a life changed by the Bible, and call those who are hurting to be helped by the Bible. Again, this is not David calling us to abandon the value of general revelation but is rather an emphasis on the absolute necessity of God’s Word. 

1. God intends for the revealing of Himself in His Word to produce holiness in us (v.10-14).

The psalmist concludes by teaching that God’s Word is to be more desired “than gold” and is “sweeter also than honey” (v.10). This bold claim flows from the truth that God’s Word guides the believer into holiness for the glory of God, which is God’s goal in revealing Himself. God reveals Himself uniquely and exclusively in the Word because He desires for struggling sinners to be “blameless” (v.13) and “acceptable” (v.14) in His sight. There is nothing more satisfying than being transformed into the people that god has designed us to be. 

The question which Psalm 19 leads us to reasonably ask ourselves as counselors is: what do I hope to see accomplished in the life of my counselee? If the answer is something other than holiness we have veered from the straight-forward teaching of Psalm 19 and we should reassess our goals in counseling. What makes biblical counseling ‘biblical’ is not only that we use the Bible as our source for instruction but that the God of the Bible sets the agenda for counseling. 

posted at: https://gospelmercies.com/2020/10/02/counseling-with-psalm-19/

Forty-Two Identity Markers for Believers

Paul Tautges

As believers in Jesus Christ it’s easy to lose our bearings when we forget who we are. This is every Christian’s identity crisis. The answer is for us to recognize the false identities that have robbed us of our joy, peace, contentment, and security and replace them with what is already true of us because of being united with Christ by faith.

For the past year the Holy Spirit has been renewing my mind and refreshing my soul by directing my focus to portions of the Word of God that emphasize who I am in Christ.

The portion where my heart dwelt this morning is the first half of the book of Ephesians. The first three chapters of the apostle’s great theological treatise are filled with numerous realities that we need to consistently claim as already belonging to us. If you need to reorient your mind, as to who you really are, reflect with me on these truths:

1. I am a saint, a set-apart-one, set apart by God for God (1:1).

2. I am a child of God. God is my father (1:2)

3. I am a servant of God. Jesus is my Lord (1:2).

4. I am a recipient of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (1:3).

5. I am chosen by God in Christ (1:4).

6. I am predestined (1:5).

7. I am adopted as a son (1:5).

8. I am a recipient of God’s kindness (1:5).

9. I am an object of God’s grace (1:6).

10. I am in union with the Beloved One, Jesus (1:6).

11. I am redeemed through His blood (1:7).

12. I am forgiven of my sin (1:7).

13. I am a recipient of God’s mystery, the mystery of His will in Christ (1:9).

14. I am a recipient and owner of an indescribable inheritance (1:11).

15. I am predestined according to His purpose (1:11).

16. I am a means of God’s glory (1:12).

17. I am sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit (1:13-14).

18. I am a member of Christ’s church, His bride (1:23).

19. I am loved by God because of His great mercy (2:4).

20. I am alive in Christ, with Christ (2:5).

21. I am raised with Christ (2:6).

22. I am seated in the heavens with Christ, awaiting the full experience of the riches of His grace and kindness (2:6-7).

23. I am saved (2:8).

24. I am the workmanship of God (2:10).

25. I am [re]created in Christ for the good works God has already prepared for me (2:10).

26. I am no longer dependent upon the flesh (2:11).

27. I am no longer excluded from God (2:12).

28. I am no longer a stranger to God (2:12).

29. I am no longer hopeless (2:12).

30. I am no longer without God (2:12).

31. I am no longer far away from God (2:12).

32. I am brought near to God through the blood of Christ (2:13).

33. I am at peace with God, no longer at war (2:14).

34. I am a member of one body in Christ (2:16).

35. I already have free access to the Father (2:18).

36. I am a fellow citizen of God’s household, kingdom (2:19).

37. I am built upon Christ and His doctrine given through the apostles (2:20).

38. I am a stone in God’s temple (2:21).

39. I am in the Spirit (2:22).

40. I am a steward of the gospel of God’s grace now revealed (3:2-5).

41. I am a minister of God’s grace in the gospel (3:7-8).

42. I am a part of God’s eternal purpose (3:11).

All of this is already true of me because I am in Christ. Hallelujah! What a Savior.

Posted at: https://counselingoneanother.com/2020/11/04/the-answer-to-every-christians-identity-struggl/

Sin Is Expensive. Here Are 6 Costs.

WILLIAM BOEKESTEIN

We never sin for free. There is always a cost. And counting that cost can make us less willing to follow our tempted hearts into spiritual danger.

The 17th-century Canons of Dort describe the price we pay for especially serious sins. By our sin we “greatly offend God, deserve the sentence of death, grieve the Holy Spirit, suspend the exercise of faith, severely wound the conscience, and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time” (5.5).

The authors of this confession aren’t rubbing salt into the wounds of those who have fallen. And they aren’t going soft on grace; the next article begins by emphasizing God’s rich mercy. Instead, as faithful shepherds, they are saying what you might find on a sign at the trailhead of a dangerous hike: “Failure to stay on the path will result in serious injury.” Reflecting on the manifold cost of sin can warn our souls against wandering from the safe path of faithfulness.

Here are the confession’s warnings.

1. By our sin we “greatly offend God.”

God is beautifully able to be offended. He isn’t a stoic. He doesn’t oversee the world like a bored, disinterested manager. As a Father to his children, he is invested in us; he cares deeply about how we live.

We never sin for free. There is always a cost.

And God’s interest matters to his beloved children. With this conviction Joseph fought off the invitation to sleep with another man’s beautiful wife: “How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). Faithful children will zealously resist offending a loving Father.

2. By our sin we “deserve the sentence of death.”

All sins—but especially outrageous ones—trigger in our souls the terrible announcement: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them” (Gal. 3:10).

When we sin, we become painfully aware of God’s verdict. “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek. 18:4). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Paul’s actual sin painfully reminded him that he lived in a body of death (Rom. 7:24). By rights he belonged on death row, waiting to be executed for his crimes against God. Sin doesn’t cancel God’s grace. But it does make us more conscious of our misery and desperate need for his rescuing mercy.

3. By our sin we “grieve the Holy Spirit.”

The Spirit is sensitive to sin; far more sensitive than we are. In Ephesians 4:30 Paul’s warning against grieving the Spirit isn’t connected to what most of us would call “heinous” sins. They are transgressions of speech and emotions, like bitterness, anger, and slander. But because of the Spirit’s purity—the holiness so suitable to his name—we terribly grieve him when we pollute our body, his home, with the sins he’s working to save us from.

4. By our sin we “suspend the exercise of faith.”

Jesus said to his disciples, who had given in to their fears and accused God of not caring about their plight, “Have you still no faith?” (Mark 4:35–41). He didn’t mean that they were no longer born again or that they had ceased to be united to him by a mysterious, Spirit-worked trust. He meant that their faith had become crippled, paralyzed.

Sin doesn’t destroy faith in God’s elect. But it can make faith impotent, leaving us feeling like we can no longer trust God, as if he is no longer for us.

5. By our sin we “severely wound the conscience.”

Peter wept bitterly when his conscience convicted him of denying Jesus (Luke 22:61–62). Even though Paul had persecuted the church prior to being born again, he was permanently scarred by his terrible crimes (1 Cor. 15:9).

Sin can be forgiven, but it isn’t always easy to forget. Troubled consciences can be a gift, leading us to repentance and faith. But sin can also dull our consciences, making us less sensitive to the Spirit’s conviction.

6. By our sin we “sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time.”

Deliberate sin is a conscious rejection of grace. We shouldn’t be surprised when sin leaves us lost in fear and doubt, feeling like we have been cast away by a holy God. Jonah literally ran from God, flatly refusing his holy will. When God chastened him for his terrible sin, Jonah said, “I have been cast out of your sight” (Jonah 3:4).

Sin doesn’t destroy faith in God’s elect. But it can make faith impotent, leaving us feeling like we can no longer trust God, as if he is no longer for us.

Jonah had tried to flee “from the presence of the LORD” (1:3). He was so dead-set on disobeying God that he wanted God to let him go. But after the euphoria of his rebellion dissipated, he panicked. God no longer cares about me. It wasn’t true, but it felt true because of his sin. God’s smile can become hidden behind the dark cloud of our sin.

Don’t Forget

All sins, but especially what the Canons of Dort call “monstrous sins,” bring pain. This fact will sober and fortify spiritually reasonable people.

Still, terrible sins into which we are “sometimes . . . carried away” (5.4) need not keep us from God. The apostle Peter could not have imagined a worse sin than the one he committed against Jesus—he vehemently, persistently denied his dear friend and Savior. If sin could disqualify a believer from being a child of God, Peter’s would have.

But it didn’t. Peter owned his sin. He repented. And Jesus restored him to his service (John 21:15–19). When you start reaping the whirlwind of the sin you have sown (Hos. 8:7), remember that God is merciful. Own your sin and recommit to walking God’s path, believing that his fatherly face will again shine on you. Just don’t forget sin’s cost.

Posted at: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/6-costs-sin/

Memorizing Scripture

H.B. Charles Jr.

He was in the wilderness. He was exhausted. He was hungry and thirsty. He was alone. He was attacked by the Devil. He was armed with the word of God. He was victorious. With confidence in the sacred scriptures, Jesus prevailed against the tempter’s deceitful schemes (see Matt. 4:1-11). The Lord defeated Satan with three verses from Deuteronomy. How much more can you and I resist temptation, live obediently, and endure hardship if we get the word of God into our hearts and minds through scripture memorization?

There are very few spiritual disciples that are more beneficial than scripture memorization. It arms you with truth to resist temptation. It renews your mind as you meditate on scripture. It shapes and strengthens your prayer life, enabling you to pray the scriptures back to God. It makes the wisdom of God readily available for decision-making. It arms you with biblical authority for counseling fellow-believers or witnessing to lost people. It gives comfort in times of grief, sorrow, and persecution. And it fills your mind and mouth with truth to offer as grateful praise to God in worship.

Here are seven steps you can take to begin and stay on track down the narrow but life-giving path of scripture memorization.

1. Have a plan. When left alone, good intentions suffocate spiritual progress. Godly desires must have the fresh air of practical commitments in order to breathe and live and grow. So establish a definite plan for scripture memorization – a plan that works for you. Decide when you will do it. Select what verses you are going to memorize. Have a plan and establish measurable, challenging, attainable goals.

2. Start small. Don’t begin by telling yourself that you are going to memorize a chapter a week. No you’re not. And your failure will only discourage you in the future. Remember, each victory will help you another to win. So start small and build on your successes. One or two verses a week is a good place to begin.

3. Select verses that are meaningful to you. The Bible is filled with hundreds of verses worth memorizing. Many profitable Bible memory systems are also available. And pastors and teachers may encourage you to memorize certain passages. Draw from all of these sources for ideas. But also select your own memory verses. Choose passages that are meaningful to you and that you find helpful.

4. Make memory cards to keep with you. Write out the verse on a card that you can take wherever you go. And when you have spare moments – on a break, in a waiting room, or between activities – you can read, review, and recite your memory verses.

5. Get a Bible memory partner. Do you have a prayer partner? If not, you should. A good prayer partner can give you support, hold you accountable, and celebrate victories with you. A good Bible memorization partner can do the same. Iron sharpens iron. So consider partnering with someone for mutual support in memorizing scripture.

6. Keep practicing your verses. Scripture memorization does not come easy for most of us. But don’t be too quick to blame it on a poor memory. Scripture memorization is spiritual warfare. But our spiritual enemy cannot prevail against the word of God. So keep practicing your verses until you get them down. Then constantly review them. Remember, repetition is the key to memorization.

7. Pray for God’s help. Do you fear that you cannot memorize scripture? Tell God about your fears. Do you need strength to remain focused? Ask the Lord for it. Do you need wisdom for selecting verses or managing your quiet time? Pray with confidence for these things. God is glorified as you learn to think and behave biblically. So labor and pray and trust the Lord to help you to make the word a treasure in your heart, so that you might not sin against him (Ps. 119:11).

Posted at: https://hbcharlesjr.com/resource-library/articles/on-memorizing-scripture/

Do Not Trust Your Anger

Article by Ray Ortlund

The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. (James 1:20)

Our world, including our Christian circles, gives us opportunities galore for anger. It’s not as though provocations lie on only one side of the theological, political, or cultural divides. Bob Dylan was right: “Everything is broken.” No wonder, then, that a whole lot can light the fuse of our anger.

Our nation is angry these days — more than I’ve ever seen before. I remember 1968, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy, and the riots in the streets of Chicago during the Democratic National Convention. Our nation was writhing in anguish and rage. 2020 seems worse, for multiple reasons too obvious to mention.

We have our personal reasons for anger too. I don’t mean just fighting traffic or settling an argument between the kids. I mean horrible experiences, with permanently life-altering repercussions. And we never “just get over it.” Who of us skates through this life without being betrayed, shamed, lied about — for starters? Some days it can be hard to get out of bed and face the day. A low-grade fever of churning anger can leave us exhausted.

Life Without Anger

But what if we never got angry? What would that say about us? What if we could see Jesus trivialized, the gospel denied, people oppressed, women degraded, children abused, lies popularized, injustice strengthened, and so forth — what if we looked at all that and felt nothing? How dead would we be inside?

“The right kind of anger is not hotheaded, not impulsive, not screaming rage, but careful and thoughtful.”

Anger is a judging emotion. It is a deeply felt response to wrong. No surprise, then, that God gets angry (Nahum 1:2). And Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5). And as we follow him, we will get angry too.

But unlike our Lord, when we get angry, we can corrupt it. We can complicate our anger with selfishness, wounded pride, impatience, lust for revenge, plus a lot more — and without even realizing it. But surely we can all agree on this: our anger can be good, and it can be bad, and it can even mingle good and bad together. So, we must weigh our anger carefully (and continue to weigh it throughout our lives).

Be Angry and Silent

As I try to navigate the crosscurrents of my own anger, a number of verses have helped guide me.

Be angry, and do not sin;
     ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. (Psalm 4:4)

I don’t think David is commanding us to get riled up. (Do we need to be told?) He is allowing anger for good reasons and dignifying legitimate anger. But he is also calling us to examine ourselves. The wise are self-aware enough to filter out the bad feelings mixed into their anger before they let it out. But “a fool gives full vent to his spirit” (Proverbs 29:11).

See how Psalm 4:4 calls us to restraint? The “be angry” at the beginning is matched by “be silent” at the end, with “do not sin” and “ponder” in between. It’s a total package. The right kind of anger is not hotheaded, not impulsive, not screaming rage, but careful and thoughtful. Wise anger is calmly deliberate. Derek Kidner makes it practical: “Sleep on it before you act” (Psalms 1–72, 73). Or before you tweet.

What Makes Anger Christian

Then, in the New Testament, the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 4:4, offering further guidance:

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26–27)

Surprisingly, only a few verses later, he also writes, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you” (Ephesians 4:31). So, there are two different kinds of anger: the anger that is truly Christian and helps others, and the anger that just fumes and rages and points the finger and scolds. Christian indignation feels grief when it encounters anything that denies Christ or degrades people. This Christian anger is set apart from selfish fury in at least three ways.

ANGER WITHOUT SIN

First, “Be angry and do not sin.” Christian anger does not indulge in sin to make its point and get what it wants. So, let’s be honest with ourselves. When we’re upset, what’s really going on inside? Are we filled with the blessed power of the Holy Spirit, or are we driven by the negative energy of self-assertion? And if we don’t even want to face these diagnostics, the answer is obvious. That’s when we need to stop whatever we’re doing, humble ourselves before the Lord, calm down, and not sin.

“I don’t trust my anger. And I don’t trust yours.”

William Edgar, in his amazing essay “Justification and Violence,” helps us see how our moral fervor can morph into our own grotesque ritual atonement, a counterfeit Calvary, where we make someone else pay, with their blood, for our own self-hatred and shame. Elizabeth O’Connor explains, “What we repress in ourselves, we will project onto the neighbor and try to destroy there.” That kind of anger is sinful — very sinful, and very common.

But Christian anger doesn’t create victims. It gathers allies, for God’s glory. It reasons with others, giving them an opportunity to respond well. In Ephesians 4:32, Paul writes, “Be kind to one another.” That word kind says more than “Be nice to one another.” The word Paul uses here is the same word our Lord uses when he says, “My yoke is easy” (Matthew 11:30). To be kind, therefore, is to make a situation as easy as it can be for others. Kindness asks, “As I state my case, how can I make a positive response as easy as possible?” Foolish anger doesn’t think that way. It doesn’t even attempt to bring healing. Foolish anger just explodes. Christian anger, on the other hand, cares enough to stop and think, rather than add a sinful response to an already sinful situation.

ANGER WITHOUT GRUDGES

Second, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Selfish anger thinks, “Let them stew in their misery for a while! Serves them right.” Selfish anger relishes the offender’s ongoing sufferings. But Christian anger doesn’t hold out, doesn’t nurse a grudge, doesn’t let a relational wound fester over time.

When we’re open to Jesus, a new sensitivity enters our hearts. For example, if this week we remember that a brother or sister has something against us, and we see Sunday coming, then we know what to do: “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” in worship at church (Matthew 5:24). Jesus said, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser” (Matthew 5:25). I wonder if this is the command we most often disobey.

We can let the sun go down on our anger day after day, week after week, year after year. We risk losing any opportunity for reconciliation, and we risk settling into our own hypocrisy before God. But Christian anger is eager to restore peace.

ANGER WITHOUT IGNORANCE

Lastly, “give no opportunity to the devil.” Christian anger knows the devil’s strategies and is determined to obey the Lord at any cost rather than serve the devil. But oblivious anger stomps on the devil’s land mines: lies, spin, slander, false accusations, lust for controversy, tribal superiority, church splits, and even outright violence. The devil loves hanging out with angry people. I suppose, for him, it’s funny how they keep falling for his same old tricks.

“Christian indignation feels grief when it encounters anything that denies Christ or degrades people.”

This is why I don’t trust my anger. And I don’t trust yours. If you come recruiting me for your cause, and your appeal is, “Look how wrong they are! We’ve got to do something!” — well, they might be wrong. They might be worse than you think. But I keep remembering the words of Paul Rees from years ago: “The early Christians did not say in dismay, ‘Look what the world has come to!’ They said in delight, ‘Look Who has come to the world!’”

That is what I intend to keep saying, by his grace, for his glory. And I don’t think anyone’s anger, including my own, deserves to complicate that glorious gospel.

I wonder what you think.

Ray Ortlund (@rayortlund) is president of Renewal Ministries and a council member of The Gospel Coalition. He founded Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and now serves from Immanuel as Pastor to Pastors.

Posted at: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-not-trust-your-anger