Love
Back in fall of 2003, a colleague of mine (Gilles Doucet for you Ottawans), helped me see something about myself that startled me. In an inscription, he wrote a prayer of blessing that included "anger being replaced by love." Now, this surprised me on two accounts. First, I didn't know that my anger was so obvious to others! Second, I had never thought about love being the antidote for anger. Maybe patience or self-control but not love. So, I tucked the phrase into my heart/mind (sensing that I hadn't grasped the truth of what was revealed) and went on my way...
Now we jump over 10 years forward to a cold Sunday evening walk with Pepsi (yes, that dog AGAIN!) We had done our usual evening route (pretty short this time of year) and we turned the last corner before home. Pepsi began getting excited. He was jumping a little and biting on his leash. I was frustrated with him so I stopped, shortened up on the leash, and said angrily, "Stop it". Then I proceeded to start walking forward aggressively pulling him towards my side.
At that moment I remember that I had been talking to God about needing more patience and felt convicted of my angry impatience towards Pepsi. "But," I thought, "I need the energy that anger provides to give me the physical strength to get this dog under control."
And it was like a light went on in my soul. God's love is the source of our power and strength.
I had never seen it so clearly before that I depend on my unrighteous anger* for a source of power to deal with whatever is irritating me and that God has a better option: "the fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22). Love can give us the strength to deal with difficult and trying situations. It can inspire us to do what is best for the other instead of venting frustration on them.
I could go on and on but I want to stop and tell you what I am going to do in the next while. I want God's love to become more central in my life so I am going to take some time in this season of Epiphany to "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1a NKJV) through studying Bible passages on God's love. I will blog about it weekly (or at least that's the plan!) I expect that this will tie in quite significantly with my desire to focus on joy in the Lord this new year.
grace and peace in Christ,
Tracy
*In no way am I saying that all anger is sinful. There is righteous anger that is absolutely appropriate in certain circumstances.
Now we jump over 10 years forward to a cold Sunday evening walk with Pepsi (yes, that dog AGAIN!) We had done our usual evening route (pretty short this time of year) and we turned the last corner before home. Pepsi began getting excited. He was jumping a little and biting on his leash. I was frustrated with him so I stopped, shortened up on the leash, and said angrily, "Stop it". Then I proceeded to start walking forward aggressively pulling him towards my side.
At that moment I remember that I had been talking to God about needing more patience and felt convicted of my angry impatience towards Pepsi. "But," I thought, "I need the energy that anger provides to give me the physical strength to get this dog under control."
And it was like a light went on in my soul. God's love is the source of our power and strength.
I had never seen it so clearly before that I depend on my unrighteous anger* for a source of power to deal with whatever is irritating me and that God has a better option: "the fruit of the Spirit is love" (Galatians 5:22). Love can give us the strength to deal with difficult and trying situations. It can inspire us to do what is best for the other instead of venting frustration on them.
I could go on and on but I want to stop and tell you what I am going to do in the next while. I want God's love to become more central in my life so I am going to take some time in this season of Epiphany to "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1a NKJV) through studying Bible passages on God's love. I will blog about it weekly (or at least that's the plan!) I expect that this will tie in quite significantly with my desire to focus on joy in the Lord this new year.
grace and peace in Christ,
Tracy
*In no way am I saying that all anger is sinful. There is righteous anger that is absolutely appropriate in certain circumstances.
Thank you for this insight, Tracy. I have been thinking for some while about how God's love - and the knowledge of it - is the fuel of our Christian life so I like what you say about God's love being "the source of our power and strength." I often think of the verse in 2 Corinthians, "Christ's love compels us" (5:14). I used to think what Paul was describing as "compulsion" was like a sense of duty but recently I have understood the verse much more in terms of a force or power that propels us into Christlikeness. Looking forward to this blog "series"!
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