PUTTING ON THE NEW SELF (part 2 of 6)

COMMENT:
When Paul tells believers to “put on the new self”, 
he doesn’t ‘leave us hanging’ to try and figure out what that means.
With the Lord’s guidance, Paul is given the wisdom to list a few of 
the areas where we should focus as we make our transition to the ‘new self’.
This is the second of a six part series of brief devotionals the Lord has 
given me for guidance and for sharing with others who have a desire to 
become the new person He wants them to be.

SCRIPTURE:
“…and to put on the new self, 
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
(Ephesians 4:24)

MEDITATION:
How have we evolved into a society comprised of angry and vengeful people? 
Most of the time anger is directly associated with selfishness. 
In other words, someone did something that affected you, so you became angry. 
Maybe someone cut you off in traffic, or honked their horn at you.

Perhaps they broke something that belonged to you, 
or did something hurtful to one of your friends. 
Whatever the cause, you became angry 
and immediately started thinking of ways to get even.

If you were cut off in traffic, you honked your horn, or sped up so you 
could cut in front of them, or even worse you gave them a vulgar hand sign. 
When was the last time you became angry and what caused it? 
Whenever you retaliate or tell others about someone who offended you, 
then you are allowing your anger to cause you to sin.

Why do you think we are told to 
‘not let the sun go down while you are still angry’? 
Doesn’t it sound like the scriptures are acknowledging that we will have 
flare ups at times, but we need to leave that anger at the end of the day, 
rather than carrying it with us into the night and the following days?

If we carry it forward, then our anger will only increase, 
and we will think about what we should have done, or should have said. 
We start thinking of how to retaliate and we begin to tell others 
all kinds of bad things about the person who offended us.

We attack their character (probably including lies) 
and try to influence others to not have anything to do with them. 
We cleverly call it “venting”, but it is sinful to gossip about others.
When we react this way, we are sinning in our anger.

Any door of sin that we open, will allow Satan to get a foothold in our life 
and give him the opportunity to gain more control of us and our attitudes.
Harboring anger, and sinning in our anger, is not expected of those 
who have ‘put on the new self’ as one who has been ‘created to be like God’.
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still 
angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

ACTION:
Pray,
“Heavenly Father forgive me for allowing my anger to cause me to sin. 
Help me to control my anger in the future and to learn to let it go 
whenever I have moments of anger.”