First, let me say that anger is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is a built-in trigger that God created to help us respond to injustice. Unfortunately, we are affected by sin so that 1) we do not always have a good handle on justice; 2) our perceptions can be subjective, distorted and selfish and 3) wallowing in hurt feelings is not constructive, either. Well, something happened that made me angry, and I felt like a steaming teapot as I struggled to find a good way to respond.
Have you heard of a concept called the "
scarlet thread?" Roughly speaking, it means that the story of Christ is the central theme of the Bible, and if you look carefully, you can see Jesus through the text of the scriptures.
For example, Adam sinned and covered his nakedness with fig leaves. Later, God clothed Adam with animal skins... an innocent animal died to cover this man's sin. The eye looking for the scarlet thread might notice how this foreshadows Christ's atonement for sin by the shedding of his own blood.
Sometimes we look at a passage that might be otherwise difficult, like Old Testament laws, and it helps to look for how that relates to Jesus. But I wonder if the general principle can also be stretched to accommodate finding Christ outside of the Bible as well.
Maybe... just maybe, such is the case with this thing that got my knickers in a twist. Maybe it makes better sense if I look for Jesus in it.
How do these circumstances relate to the Lord? How can that situation be used to glorify him? I couldn't do that and still carry out the seething vitriol of a full blown conniption fit.
Hmmm... this process of looking for the scarlet thread helped in a big way when I was "seeing red."
flowers
Posts
