One of Those Ouch Verses

"Let bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Ephesians 4:31-32

Ouch! These verses were perfect for me today, and I can't say that I really like them very much. I hate when I read devotions where the author writes about verses like these as if that is so easy. It is so not!

Do you see the incomplete list of malice there? We have bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander to name just a few. These words are not synonyms. Just because you have anger doesn't mean that you will go around slandering other people. Of course, if you are angry you could slander people. Bitterness can be poisoning just me or it could come out as wrath on others around me.

Now if I'm going to be honest if someone hurts me I feel anger towards them and depending on how badly I've been hurt bitterness does take root. I don't tend to slander people though or act upon wrath. Now clamor is so not me. Clamor is shouting and confusing, imagine arguments on "reality" TV shows. People are just yelling at each other and it's almost impossible to understand what anyone is saying. Yea, so not me.

Well, back to the verses. I have been feeling so serious anger lately and the last thing I really want to do is be kind or tenderhearted. And forgive! No, I don't want to forgive. But I have to forgive. My anger may be hurting others, but it might not. Others might not even know that I'm angry. The same goes for forgiveness. The other person might not even know that they did something or said something they need to be forgiven for. Regardless, I need to forgive. When I forgive I feel peace. The anger and bitterness seem to just melt away.

Of course, when I read the final words of the verse "as God in Christ forgave you" I have a real hard time hanging on to my anger and not forgiving. God forgave me and He did through the sacrifice of His Son. When I really think about that there is no way I can not forgive. So today's verse was perfect for me today. Is it meant for you too?