“A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But he who is slow to anger and patient calms disputes.”

Proverbs 15:18 AMP

The world today seems to be stressed out beyond comprehension. Stories of children killing their parents over grades, road-rage incidents because of a blown horn, even a movie goer was beaten almost to death over asking someone to move from their purchased, assigned seat are all examples of how much people are ramped up in today’s world. It seems that everyone is only concerned about themselves even at the cost of other’s lives! Is this really what was intended for mankind? Of course not! God placed man in the perfect environment and told him to rule (take care of) the world! Look at the book of Genesis,

“So the LORD God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.”

Genesis 2:15 AMP

In the beginning, everything was under the control of Adam and Eve. They had authority to cultivate and keep that which was entrusted to them. That however ended when they rebelled against God. Sin caused man to “lose control” over his situation and life. It is that same feeling of loss of control over life that drives man into the darkest places of life seeking for an answer! Being a victim of sexual abuse, I know the feeling all too well! The drugs and alcohol allowed me to think that I was in a place of determining my own destiny when in reality they were steeling it away day by day! So how can someone lost in despair find a place of peace and rest? Look to the Word of God!

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavily burdened [by religious rituals that provide no peace], and I will give you rest [refreshing your souls with salvation].”

John 11:28 AMP

Oh, what comforting words from our Savior! Far too many years I feared the God of judgement until the night I met Him. I remember clearly Jesus standing in the corner of my living room. High and drunk I begged Him to leave as I knew I was everything that He was not! I cried out “What do You want from me?” With the gentlest look of compassion, He said “I love you!” I couldn’t take it! Why would this holy, perfect, righteous God even bother with me? It’s because He came to seek that which was lost. 

The night He freed me from the addition I remember waking the next morning and all the tension, and fear, and hopelessness faded into the most peaceful experience I had ever felt. The old angry, contentious, self-absorbed me was suddenly transformed. I didn’t any longer have to prove my existence because I met the One who know and loved me most. 

Our verse today starts with a description of my pre-Christ experience. I was “hot-tempered” and “self-centered” caring only about myself. Full of rage and anger I was like a time bomb waiting to go off! The word there is actually “wrathful.” It means a “very strong feeling of displeasure, hostility, and antagonism in relation to a real or imagined situation; An extension of the heat and burning feeling one can have when one is emotionally worked up and in strife and turmoil.” What a good description of the condition of mankind today! 

One of my favorite Scriptures is found in 2 Corinthians,

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].”

2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP

A new awaking of our Spirts to the fact that there is a reason and purpose for my life in middle of all this worldly madness! God has a plan for me!

“I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return].”

Philippians 1:6 AMP

Because I am forgiven, I forgive those who hurt me! It is in that place of surrender that the seeds of God’s Word, watered by His love, can bring forth good fruit in our lives! Have a blessed day, Pastor Ken