Take Your Anger to the Cross

Throughout my life I have been challenged with anger towards others.  When I or a loved one have been hurt, anger arose like flood waters.  My mind could not wrap around WHY this other person did something so mean or wrong.  WHAT could that person be thinking? 

Well, after becoming a Christian, the anger still arises from time to time.  I now know where to take all those emotions - the Cross!  We will all fall short of the glory of God every day.  No sin ranks worse than another.  All sins go against God's teaching.  Judging one another through an angry heart is just as bad a sin as what caused the anger.

Millions of people in this world suffer from addictions.  An addiction is any habitual activity.  You may have an addiction to coffee, chewing gum, laying on the same side every night for bed or wearing the same socks to a game to assure a win!  Okay, these may not hurt anyone around you and you may not hear about them on the news; but, they qualify as habitual activities.  Other addictions destroy families, place a wedge between friends and break the hearts of children.  Some include alcohol, stealing, lying, eating disorders, cigarettes or drugs.  Do these sinful actions done due to addiction give us permission to hate, retaliate, refuse to forgive or count the person as lost?

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation
   and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
   so that sinners will turn back to you." (Psalm 51:12-13)

"You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.  But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips." (Colossians 3:7-8)

"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)

We are not to tear each other apart because of our sins.  Run to God and take the anger to Him.  Ask for Him to restore you heart, full of malice, to one full of grace.  Our anger only gives the devil a foothold to begin destroying our life.  Then, we cannot do the work God intended for our lives.  Teach one another by example.  Spread His Truths to all.  Yes, even the ones that hurt you continuously.  I must remind myself of what a woman once told me, "Hate the sin, NOT the sinner."

I must recall my own experiences and remember when hands of grace extended to me while I swam in addiction and sin.  I recall my mother staying next to me in the hospital, sleeping in an uncomfortable recliner and loving me even though I turned our world upside down with my eating disorder.  I will not forget the days prior to my hospitalization that my dad stayed with me while mom went to work to keep an eye on me.  I slept most of the time, but would wake up to hear him praying or reading the Bible to me.  My best friend stayed by me through many drunken nights to make sure I was physically okay.  My husband never gave up on me when my eating disorder reared its ugly head again.

These people loved me, prayed for me and did not count me as lost.  They had faith and knew God could heal.  They could have left me, rejected me, threw angry words at me or reacted back at me when I hurt them.  Instead, they showed me how much power there is in prayer.  They taught me how to beat such a powerful stronghold as addiction.  They extended a hand of grace.

Extend a hand of grace to each other.  No person runs too far for God to reach them.  Pray for those who hurt you because we all have a common enemy - Satan.  Prayers will defeat his hold on us. 

God, thank You for Grace.  Thank You for saving me.  Thank You for the chance to teach others about Your Truths.  I pray for all those with addiction to cling to You and take a stand against Satan.

Keep praying harder than the devil can work.
Sheree Craig