Make It Right

By Daniel Woodcock, Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Church, Gadsden, AL

Read Matthew 5:21-26.

People can make you angry. Your boss, neighbor, middle schooler, and sometimes even your spouse can all cause you to lose your temper. Sometimes you’ve just had enough, and you tell them exactly how you feel. And while that may feel liberating to get that off your chest, there are now some barriers in the relationship. Anger is the one thing you can’t get rid of by losing it. But is it really a big deal?  

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Jesus talked about this in the greatest sermon ever preached. He would bring up concepts that people agreed with but then take it a step further. No one was going to argue with Jesus that murder was okay. But Jesus said that if you got angry with someone, insulted someone, or called someone “a fool,” you would be subject to punishment. How does any of that make you guilty? Jesus was making a distinction between the feeling of anger from the emotion of anger that is directed toward another person. He pointed out that this anger comes from the same root as the hate leading to murder.

This type of anger causes us to devalue the worth that God has placed on a person. This type of anger attacks the heart and character of others. Jesus said that anger and hatred affect our relationship with God, and before He accepts our acts of worship, we need to make things right with others. Remember that person that made you angry? Have you made it right? Jesus said we will miss out on what God has for us until we make it right with others.  

So, who is that person you need to visit to make things right?

Reflective Questions:

1. Do you think you have a problem with anger or have unresolved issues due to anger? Why or why not.
2. Why do you think insulting someone devalues the worth God has given them? 
3. Who is one person you need to see this week to make things right?

Memory Verse:

But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22 (NKJV)

Prayer:

Dear God, help me. Help me to understand the importance of my anger, temper, short fuse, passive aggressiveness, emotional stuffing, or however else I might be dealing with unresolved issues with others.  

Related Scriptures

Matthew 18:9; Mark 9:43; I John 3:15; I Samuel 15:22; Hosea 6:6; James 5:16; Mark 9:50; Job 22:21