When Is Anger Acceptable?

It’s often easier to admit making mistakes than it is to acknowledge making bad choices. It’s reasonable to assume that those making an honest mistake do not feel as guilty or defensive as someone who makes a bad choice. The Prodigal Son’s older brother mistakenly believed his younger brother would never return home.

He couldn’t imagine his father throwing a lavish party for someone so irresponsible. This is not dissimilar to Jonah’s reaction when God refused to destroy the people of Nineveh after they repented and turned to him for mercy. Jonah wanted Nineveh destroyed because they were his enemy, but God, in mercy and kindness, forgave them.

Jonah’s anger paralleled the anger of the Prodigal Son’s older brother. God asked Jonah, “Do you have the right to be angry because I show kindness and mercy?” Had he forgotten God had saved him from certain death? By remembering what God has done for you, surely thanksgiving and praise will flow for his kindness and mercy. 

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Now you must repent and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that your souls may know the times of refreshment which come from the presence of the Lord.

~Acts 3:19 Phillips – New Testament in Modern English

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When Is a Wrong Choice Not a Mistake?

Children and adults often insist that a wrong choice was just a bad mistake. An honest mistake is usually linked to confusion, limited facts, or leaving home before being mature enough to establish proper boundaries. Mistakes encourage you to evaluate choices since a choice can be tantamount to violating your conscience.

The Prodigal Son made several bad choices that proved costly. Leaving home before being mature enough to establish proper boundaries for himself made it possible for him to lose his inheritance by reckless living and bad choices.

His mistake was trusting friends to stick by him when his money evaporated. God’s mercy and kindness allow for immaturity and mistakes as well as bad choices, but still reality has to be faced. When forced to face reality, the Prodigal Son recognized his failures and repented. God gave him hope for the future and a new beginning.           

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You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up, then God will show mercy to you.

~Proverbs 28:13 Good News Bible

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A New Year of Hope: Lay a New Foundation with God's Light

 When I think about the word foundation, the words from the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” surface clear and distinct. The words of the hymn speak to the issues we’ve faced for the past two years and give hope for making this year count for good. It is possible to lay a new foundation for blessings and hope by permitting the love of Christ Jesus to dominate your life.

What are you willing to change in the way you live your life that will honor God so you can experience his blessings and his peace? Since we are people, we fall short of being who we could be, but by God’s mercy and kindness we can go forward to fulfill his purpose for us.

This new year will be different as you come clean with God by repenting of every sin that’s preventing you from experiencing his peace. Refuse to live in the shadows of what’s hidden deep in your soul by permitting the light of Christ Jesus to purify you of all unrighteousness.  He will do it. Happy New Year.

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The solid foundation that God has laid cannot be shaken; and on it are written these words: “The Lord knows those who are his” and “Those who say that they belong to the Lord must turn away from wrongdoing.”

~2 Timothy 2:19 Good News Bible

My prayer is that light will flood your hearts and that you will understand the hope that was given to you when God chose you. Then you will discover the glorious blessings that will be yours together with all of God’s people.

~Ephesians 1:18 Contemporary English Version

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Thankful Through It All

Happiness should always be surrounded by an attitude of thanksgiving. Good things happen and I am blessed. So is thanksgiving dependent only on good, positive experiences? If thanksgiving is totally dependent on the absence of negative or bad attitudes, then my gratitude will evaporate if anything troublesome happens. 

However, God makes it possible to be thankful in every situation. It’s important to remember we have a powerful, loving, approachable Lord who longs to comfort and assure us at all times. While the pain of loss can conceal our happiness, a Christian’s joy is based on God’s enduring love. 

William Blake, the English poet, gave us this assurance:

To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love,

All pray in their distress:

And to these virtues of delight

Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love,

Is God, our Father dear.

Blake continues: "For Mercy has a human heart; Pity, a human face; and Love, the human form divine" portrayed in the person of Christ Jesus. So we thank God for all he has done.

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Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope, and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people.

~1 Peter 1:3-4 Good News Bible

Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good;

His love and his kindness go on forever.

~1 Chronicles 16:34 The Living Bible

Open Minds and New Ways - Part 3

The movie, The Winslow Boy is about a fourteen-year-old boy who was expelled from the British Royal Naval College after being accused of theft. The script presented a collision of values in British society and demonstrated the way each character dealt with facts and truth, as well as the nature of their core being that needed transforming.

Transformation awakens and creates values. Psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote, "Many problems disappear or could easily be resolved by staying in conformity with one's values. Honesty with oneself and clear knowledge of one's character are prerequisites to trustworthy moral decisions."

In the case of The Winslow Boy, justice was overridden by doing what was right, which demonstrated God’s mercy and kindness. Through God's grace and faith in Christ Jesus we are made righteous in God's sight. If you receive justice, what you deserve, what do you get?  We’re redeemed by God's righteousness, which gives us hope and determination to make choices pleasing to Christ Jesus.