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WARNING: Anger May Cause
Cracks in Your Armor of God
By Julia Benson
I have a secret that a lot of people wouldn't think could be
possible about me. Sometimes I become quite angry (I'm fairly
sure I'm not alone in this phenomenon.) But, usually, I find a
way to get over it. However, sometimes I don't let go of the
anger and it is still there under the surface. BEWARE!
What starts out as irritation quickly works its way into
frustration and soon becomes full-blown anger that rages into a
spirit of disobedience to God. I can think of a time when I was
angry at my husband for three days, and for three days I was so
consumed by my anger I barely prayed or thought about Christ, let
alone read the Bible. If I did pray, it was really chintzy, and I
prayed out of obligation, not because I wanted to.
At the time when this happened, I thought I was out of that mode
of not praying or praying without heart. Here I thought I was in
this great "spiritual renewal." Then boom. It was gone.
It's like Satan found a little crack in my armor through my
anger. Then he pried and pried it open until it was a gaping hole
and all of the love and devotion for Christ that I had so
carefully stored up just spilled out onto the dirty ground.
I did know one thing, though. I didn't want to go back to the way
I was before my "spiritual renewal," saying Lord, Lord,
but not really meaning it. So, I did what I had to do. I patched
the hole in my heart and picked up every last grain of love and
devotion for Christ and put it back.
There is no way I'm going to live without Him! Do I still
struggle with anger? Unfortunately, yes. But it is becoming
easier for me to patch the holes in my armor, and maybe someday,
if I keep my focus on Christ, there won't be any cracks for Satan
to enter. Ephesians 6:13 says, "Therefore put on the full
armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to
stand."
Julia Benson is a freelance writer who lives near the town of
Farmersburg, Iowa. She attends a Seventh-day Adventist Church in
Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
TSS
September
/ October 2005 The Sabbath Sentinel
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