And because of His glory and excellence, He has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share His divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. ~2 Peter 1:4 (NLT)
The word “nature” is defined as the way a person behaves: their character or personality. Some people would say to claim you possess the divine nature of God is heresy. But scripture teaches that God’s promises enable us to share His divine nature, which in turn enables us to escape the world’s corruption caused by our own human desires. Have you ever had an inner conflict between your own desire and God’s desire? If so, you know both sides cannot win. You will have to cling to one and abandon the other. Our human desire wants to correct the wrongs we see in this world. The enemy tends to bring to our minds wrongs that he pushes us to “work” on. These can be imperfections in ourselves or imperfections in others. They may even be areas of growth we need to move into, or areas of growth others need to move into. Jesus never told anyone to get it all together or He wasn’t going to be there for them. He said in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.” (NIV) Notice Jesus does not add “unless that friend is going down the wrong path”.
There are going to be times in our lives when people disappoint us. There are going to be times in our lives when people perpetually disappoint us. We need to know how God wants us to respond to the pain and disappointment inflicted by the sins of other people. We need to have a plan as to how we are going to crucify our anger before it turns to bitterness. Letting wounds inflicted by others fester only leads to more pain and disappointment. That’s why the Lord wants us to bring our burdens to Him. He understands first-hand what it feels like to be wounded by the sins of others. He was wounded by the sins of the world! The Lord says we have the ability to love others unconditionally just as He loves others unconditionally. Jesus said in John 14:12 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father." (NLT) God does not want us to write people off, He wants us to write them on our prayer list. He says be angry but sin not. We aren’t even supposed to let the sun go down on our wrath because the Lord says that gives the devil a foothold in our lives. At some point we are going to have to replace the anger, bitterness and especially the fear of it happening again with love. That might as well be sooner than later. We have both the ability and responsibility to love others unconditionally. Our greatest endeavor should be to conform to the image of Christ, not to get the speck out of our brother’s eye. Turn it around and you will turn your world around! Choose to be Christ ruled verses self-ruled today. God isn’t going to make that choice for you. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and He is the only one who has the authority to right wrongs. You and I are called to love and to love unconditionally.
He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. ~Isaiah 42:3 (NLT)
What’s your plan to crucify your anger before it turns into bitterness?
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