I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT? (part-14)

I’M SAVED, NOW WHAT? (part-14)

ANGER MANAGEMENT:
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this:
Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak
and slow to become angry, (James 1:19)

One phrase we see in the verse above is, ‘slow to become angry’.
Does that sound like there are times when it is okay to become angry?
It does, doesn’t it? When is anger okay? Do we see an example of it
in the scriptures? Yes. Jesus was angry when he saw others disgracing
a place of worship.

If God is truly our friend, then it should offend us whenever we see
others disgracing or blaspheming Him. It doesn’t mean we allow our
anger to get out of control, but I believe we are given permission to
say something about how we are offended by their actions or words.

I remember when I was just out of high school, I had a friend who would
confront others whenever they would use the Lord’s name in vain. Even
when there was a large group of friends “hanging out”, if someone used
God’s name while cursing, he would confront them and simply say,
    “Don’t say that, it offends me”.

I found it interesting that it wasn’t long before the language of others
would change whenever he was around. Some would even make a
comment like, “Watch your language, ____ is here”. Was he a preacher
or Sunday school teacher? No. He was just a believer who loved the Lord.

Being ‘slow to anger’ also means that we keep our anger under control.
This is good advice even in the secular world. We know that anger can
lead to violent and more severe actions such as physical and/or verbal
abuse, and even murder. It is also bad for us physically. We can develop
ulcers or even have heart attacks when we allow our anger to continue to
seethe. Anger can steal our joy and happiness too.

Quite often anger will be directed toward a spouse in a marriage.
Why? Because issues that a person never resolved before marriage
can carry over into the marriage and cause him or her to blame their
spouse for anything that displeases them.

For instance, let’s say that you had issues with your mother while
growing up. Maybe you felt she was overbearing. Maybe you felt
she was too restrictive. Maybe you felt she showed favoritism to
one of your brothers or sisters. Whatever the issue, if you do not
come to grips with it before getting married, there is a strong
possibility that anytime you become frustrated or disappointed,
you will blame your wife.

The same can be true for daughters who have issues with their fathers.
If they do not come to terms with their issues before marriage, chances
are they will blame many things on their husbands.

In either case, quite often this “blaming” will escalate into anger,
including yelling and saying some very harsh (often untrue or unfair)
things to your spouse. If you are married and have not resolved issues
of the past, it is time to honestly face these issues and go to the source
for resolution, instead of avoiding them and redirecting your frustrations
toward your spouse.

Continuing to lash out at others is not fair to your spouse, and it is not
good for you either. Knowing that you are being unfair to your spouse
can weigh you down with a lot of guilt, which increases your frustrations
and anger.

Not in all cases, but sometimes anger is a result of selfishness. We want
things the way we want them and whenever something different happens,
it means we didn’t get our way and we become angry. A comedian once
said,
    “Anyone who drives slower than me is an idiot
    and anyone who drives faster than me is a maniac”.

What he was saying was that everyone should have his same driving habits
and whenever they don’t, he becomes angry and has names he can call them.
Perhaps you are someone who is constantly pointing out the faults of other
drivers but never realize that others may be complaining about your driving too.

Does this hit close to home? Do you ever resort to name calling whenever
someone does things differently than you do? Names like idiot, airhead, etc.?
What if you looked at yourself from their perspective? Would they consider
using the same names for you?

The scriptures gives us another reason for controlling our anger.
    because human anger does not produce the
    righteousness that God desires. (James 1:20)

As a true believer, don’t you want to do the things that please the Lord?
Our desires should be in alignment with His desires. This verse says that
anger prevents us from having the “righteousness that God desires”.
That alone should be reason enough for us to make a conscious effort
to control our temper. When James says
    “does not produce the righteousness….”,
he is warning us that anger is an indication that we are failing to develop
the type of attitude God wants in His children. Why is that important?
I believe that two reasons stand out.

For one thing it can prevent us from enjoying the fellowship with the Lord
that His children should desire.

Secondly, it can damage our witness to those who are lost and in need of
salvation. Let’s be honest, if a lost person observes that we have a quick
and/or uncontrollable temper, then they will say to themselves,
    “He (or she) is no better than I am”.

They would be correct in saying that about us because we ARE no better than
they are, but we have been reborn and are now God’s adopted children. The
problem is, our words and actions can cause them to overlook a need for the
Lord in their own life. This may cause them to step into eternity separated
from the Lord forever when they die. None of us want to be the reason for
others missing out on heaven.

Unfortunately, some have the attitude of,
    “That’s their problem; they need to get over my words and actions”
Whenever that is our attitude, we have not accepted the fact we are
representatives of God and consequently are part of His ministry.
It is a type of arrogance that is not pleasing to the Lord.

Our takeaway from these two verses (James 1:19-20) is:
listen more, talk less, control our anger and stop allowing
selfishness to cause us to develop bad habits.

DEALING WITH EVIL:
Have you ever wondered why you have trouble getting excited about learning
more about God’s Word? Why do others seem to have a thirst that you just
don’t have? There must be something that is blocking this desire for you, but
what could it be? James gives us some insight into the problem. He says there
are two things that stand in the way: moral filth and evil.
    Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that
    is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted
    in you, which can save you. (James 1:21)

James tells us that we have to get rid of these two obstacles in order to receive
God’s Word. He implies that the elimination of evil and moral filth will help
us to develop humility (“humbly accept”). Isn’t that how God works? We get
rid of something bad and He fills the void with something good. We get rid of
moral filth and evil in our lives, and God fills the void with humility. Now you
are probably asking yourself,
    “What kind of moral filth and evil could I possibly have in my life?”

One of the problems many of us have is we tend to rank sins; some are
worse than others in our own estimation. Some also have a tendency to
compare their sins to the what is accepted from a worldly perspective.
But we have to remember that God looks at ALL sin as moral filth and
evil. That means that any and all sin in our life falls into the same
category. So, the message to us is, get rid of sin in our lives.

Why is it important for us to receive God’s Word? According to James,
it is the key to our salvation. We might stop and ask ourselves,
    “If James is talking to believers,
     then why do we need God’s Word for salvation?”

I believe the answer is twofold:
    1. For believers, we need to apply God’s Word to our lives as evidence
       of our salvation. It is not just reading and thinking about how interesting
       it is, but it is applying Godly principles to the way we live. For instance,
       God does not like arrogance, but He loves humility. If we are honest with
       ourselves, we know when we are being egotistical, or just think pretty
       highly of ourselves. It is important for us to make a major change in
       our attitude and replace arrogance with humility.

       This is not something that ‘just happens’, it requires a conscious and active
       effort on our part. That is what it means to apply God’s Word. Think about
       it; egotism and humility are at opposite ends of the spectrum. That means a
       transition from one to the other is not easy, and will require a lot of effort to
       get there. Fortunately God can rescue us from the attitudes and habits that
       should not be a part of our lives. He can help us in our efforts to remove
       them, and He is ready to fill the voids with things that please Him.

    2. Since James is talking to believers, I believe he is implying that getting
        rid of sin and accepting God’s Word is a continual process. As mentioned
        earlier, if we are going from one extreme to another, it will not happen
        overnight. That means we will need to make a conscious effort every
        day (especially since Satan is determined to cause believers to stumble
        and is busy attacking us every day).

        Since we are under daily attack, we need to be getting rid of sin daily.
        When we get lazy and fail to try and ‘cleanse’ ourselves daily, then
        we open the door for Satan to gain a foothold. Once he gets a foothold,
        he has the opportunity to change our focus. If he is successful in changing
        our focus, then it won’t be long until he gains a stronghold in our lives.

        Once he gets a stronghold, we will stop realizing the importance of
        obeying God’s commands. We see it happen in churches all the time.
        Families who consistently worship and praise the Lord with others,
        gradually (or sometimes suddenly) start attending church sporadically
        and eventually drop out altogether.