How Is Being Slow to Anger Helpful?

 So much pain and suffering is caused by anger that’s expressed in words or physical violence. Anger can be as addictive as narcotics, and that addiction is difficult to break, especially when it is used as a weapon. Revenge-seeking is given its presence and power when driven by anger. 

Words spoken in anger can shred a person’s self-esteem and create pain that lasts a lifetime. Silence encased in anger portrays a cold, distant attitude that serves as payback for past physical or verbal abuse. Feeling threatened emotionally or physically always accompanies anger at varying levels.

Whatever causes anger, never permit it to become the instrument for getting revenge. We can follow God’s pattern of being slow to anger, abounding in love, as Exodus 34:6 explains. Being slow to anger prevents overreacting by giving you the chance to see situations from God’s point of view.   

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But you, the Lord God, are kind and merciful. You don’t easily get angry, and your love can always be trusted.

~Psalm 86:15 Contemporary English Version

 

Let Christ’s peace control you. God has called you into this peace by bringing you into one body. And be thankful.

~Colossians 3:15 God’s Word Translation

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What Makes Offerings Acceptable to God?

Seeking revenge can become such an obsession that it evolves into a force that overshadows everything, including your relationship with the Lord God. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, allowed anger, jealousy, and hurt feelings to possess him because his offering to God was rejected while his  brother’s gift was accepted.

Why was Cain’s offering unacceptable? If Cain’s values made him capable of murder, then he and his offering would be unacceptable until Cain was redeemed by God himself. Proverbs 20:17 confirms, “The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable no matter how perfect that offering appears visually.”

God looks at a person’s motivation, so if Cain’s offering was given grudgingly, then he did not have the right attitude for presenting his offering to God. 2 Corinthians 9:7 describes the correct motivation: “You should each give as you have decided, not with regret or out of a sense of duty, for God loves the one who gives gladly.”       

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Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord. Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.

~Hebrews 13:15-16 Good News Bible 

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