We've been having a lot of construction here in Southeast Michigan. I've had to come up with about four different routes to get home because every few weeks another road is one-laned or blocked or severely backed up for some reason. As a result, I've been frustrated when driving on several occasions recently. My wife made a comment which caught my attention a few weeks ago. She saw I was getting frustrated, and said, "We should maybe move out the country someday." But then I began to think; the problem is not with the construction, or the traffic, or whatever else might be frustrating me. Moving to the country or far away from busy city streets wouldn't solve the problem; it would only make it less frequent.
The problem lies within (Luke 6:45). Just like the monks of the Middle Ages who tried to wall themselves up, but found their monasteries degenerating into pits of vice and greed and hypocrisy, each of us will fail if we attempt to solve our heart problems of anger, jealousy, greed, and so on by running from the external circumstances. In some cases, running is the appropriate response to temptation in order to avoid sin (Genesis 39:11-12). However, in many other cases, the right course of action is to ask forgiveness of God and those around you for your sinful reaction. You and I often do not have control over the situations we find ourselves in, but we can respond with patience when we find our frustrations peaking (contrast Galatians 5:20, "outbursts of anger", with Galatians 5:23, "self-control").
No comments:
Post a Comment