Theme of the Week: Anger into Mercy
Bible Verse: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them!” John 3:17
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:8-24
Part of God’s way is that His motivation and goals are different and opposite to ours.
How does God respond when something important in His world is wrong? God responds redemptively.
Think about the Garden of Eden.
Anyone with small kids will relate to this illustration. The whole family is ready to go to an event, and everyone is dressed up nice and clean. You are prepared to start the car, your wife places your child in the car seat, and your child gives back to you his breakfast as a gift. Frustration is a very mild way to express how you feel at that moment.
Imagine now, after God just finished creating everything so pristine, the only two people in the world make a poor decision that triggers everything to turn upside down. What does God do?
Is God angry when people act like their own God, betraying Him, and bringing grief to themselves and others? Yes. But how does He express that anger?
As the father – who doesn’t take the poor child from the car seat and burst into violent, angry expressions of beating and cursing – God shows His grace. In the Garden, God sends them away, for their good (Gen. 3:22), after He made them a promise to rescue and restore things.
How does God respond to you and me? By fulfilling that promise in sending His very own Son to this broken world to be broken on the cross. He sacrificed his Son so His people can be forgiven, transformed, and restored to a right relationship with Him and others.
God’s redemptive ways must also be our ways as a result of our anger. The poor dad in the car likely tells his child that, “It’s okay,” picks him up, steps into the mess, and starts cleaning up.
Because you are filled with the Holy Spirit, it will be possible for you also to respond to what’s wrong, learning to say, “That’s wrong,” without bursting, cursing, or yelling.
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