Ephesians 4:26-27 - "Let It Go"

People will disappoint us, God never will. Plain and simple. We must keep our focus on God. He will enable us to deal with disappointments in life. What we expect from people is not always reality. When we see them with His eyes, we will understand better on why they do or say things that are not of Him. He also enables us to see how people are at different levels with their walk with Him. They more they are still in the 'self' level, the more they will not act in a godly manner. This can be frustrating at times in relationships. It can cause issues between people. There can be feelings of hurt, mistrust, and even anger. The thing we must remember is to not focus on people but rather keep our focus on Him. We also must not let people's actions to cause us to sin. If we become angry and allow that anger to cause us to lash out with words or actions, that is sin. Anger is something everyone deals with in their life. I think of Paul's words in Ephesians 4:17-32 about living a righteous life. Specifically verses 26 and 27....

These verses are full of richness of teaching about anger. It is imperative to notice they do not say we are not to become angry. There is righteous anger which is when we become angry over people who do things against the Lord. In the Bible there are many accounts of people become angry. Eighty nine percent of the forty-seven times anger is discussed in the Bible is sinful anger. Only five of the forty-seven times are attributed to righteous anger. One must look closely at their anger to determine if it is human or righteous. There are three ways to do that. We must ask ourselves...

1. Is our anger reacting against actual sin?
2. Does our anger focus on God and not ourselves?
3. Are there other godly qualities accompanied with our anger?

If we cannot answer these questions with a 'yes,' then our anger is not righteous. Jesus is our Role Model to follow when it comes to righteous anger. He showed righteous anger in Mark 3 when He was questioned about healing on the Sabbath. He also showed it in Mark 10:13-16 when the disciples were turning the children away. Another time was in John 2:13-17 with the money changers in the temple. I am sure there were other times people disappointed Him but these were the only times accounted for where His anger showed through. We must follow His example and not allow the enemy a foothold through anger when people disappoint us.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for the blessings of yesterday. Thank You for the improvement with my voice. Thank You for being close beside me with times of disappointment. Thank You for loving me so greatly that You brought me to this Scripture this morning to encourage me. Lord, cleanse me of anything not of You. Take away the thoughts about people that are not godly. Soothe the hurt and apply Your balm. Fill me with more of You so people will see/hear You and not me throughout this day. I pray a continued healing upon my husband. Be his physical, mental, emotional and spiritual strength today in a different, new way. Thank You for being My Role Model. Amen.