Respectable Sin Of Anger.docx

Respectable Sins: Impatience, Irritability, Anger and Weeds of Anger Impatience and Irritability Definition Impatience is a strong sense of annoyance at the (usually) unintentional faults and failures of others. It is often expressed verbally in a way that tends to humiliate the person (or persons) who is the object of impatience. It is a response. The actual cause of our impatience lies within our own hears, in our own attitude of insisting that others around us conform to our expectations. What are the common things that tests your patience? Identify recurring situations in your life that tempt you to become impatient. Some common causes:  Having to explain things more than once  Slow serve due to the thoughtlessness of another person  Those with whom we work do not progress We need to acknowledge and repent of our impatience as sin. Exhortations of Paul in several letters to be patient 1Cor 13, the great love chapter. He leads off the description of love, by saying, it is patient. Galatians 5:22-23, patience is one of the fruits of the holy spirit. Ephesians 4:1-2, paul urges us to live our lives with patience Colossians 3:12, we are to put on patience. Patience is something we cultivate. Impatience is a sin that must be put to death. Irritability describes the frequency of impatience, or the ease with which a person can become impatient over the slightest provocation. What about if you are the frequent subject of another person’s impatience? How should you respond? Biblically you have two options: Follow the example of Jesus, in 1 Peter 2:23 – Jesus did not retaliate but instead committed Himself to the Father who will judge righteously.

Confront the person who is continually impatient towards you and point out to the person examples of his or her impatience. But this should be done only when you have resolved the issue in your own heart and can speak to the other person for his or her benefit, not just to make your own life pleasant. Following Jesus requires a firm belief in the sovereignty of God in every situation of your life. God is likely using this person’s sinful action to help you grown in the biblical virtues of patience and meekness (Moses, Numbers 12:1-3) Anger is a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism. Its often accompanied by sinful emotions, words, and actions hurtful to those who are the objects of a person’s anger. Righteous Anger – people justifying their anger. A right to be angry, given a certain situation. How to know if its righteous anger? It arises from an accurate perception of true evil – that is, as a violation of God’s moral law. It focuses on God and His will, not on me and my will. It is always self-controlled. It never causes one to lose his temper or retaliate in some vengeful way. Sinful Anger- out sinful reactions to other people’s action or words. Basic principle No. 1: In facing up to our anger, we need to realize that No one else causes us to be angry. Someone else’s words or actions may become the occasion of our anger, but the cause lies deep within us- usually our pride, or selfishness, or desire to control. Example: You agreed to do something for a friend, and then you forgot to do it. When your failure came to light, he became quite angry with you. Why did he become upset? It was because your failure had made him look bad in front of some of his friends. This is not to excuse your forgetfulness and the real fact that you had put him in an awkward situation. But the cause of his anger was not your failure but his pride. At the end of the day, we choose how we will respond to the sinful actions of others towards us. Peter’s words to slaves in the first-century churches, who often served under cruel and unjust masters. According to much present-day thinking they would be justified in their anger, but here are peter’s words to them 1 Peter 2:18-20

Peter’s instructions to slaves are a specific application of a broader scriptural principle: We are to respond to any unjust treatment as “mindful of God.” To be mindful of God means to think of God’s will and God’s glory. How would God have me respond in this situation? How can I best glorify God by my response? Do I believe that this difficult situation or this unjust treatment is under the sovereign control of God and that in His wisdom and goodness He is using these difficult circumstances to conform me more to the likeness of Christ? (Romans 8:28, Hebrews 12:4-11) To be realistic, it would be hard to go over this checklist in the middle of an emotional heat of a tense situation, BUT we ought to develop a habit of thinking this way. Allow the Holy Spirit to dissolve your anger. There are so many circumstances or actions that tempt us to be angry. But they can never cause us to be angry. The cause always lies within our hearts, usually as a result of pride or selfishness. The issue is really how to handle it. Some people tend to externalize their anger in strong, usually hurtful language, or belittling or making sarcastic comments. Internalize anger in the form of resentment. So how do we handle our anger in a God-honoring way? Recognize and acknowledge our anger