If anyone should be saying that, "I am loving God," and should be hating his brother, he is a liar, for he who is not loving his brother whom he has seen can not be loving God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4: 20, Concordant New Testament
I've come to notice over the past few months that the hostility level of many people has become more pronounced. It seems that every word of disagreement, every gesture is a invitation for a argument...or worse. When did we become so hostile towards one another? Can we simply play this behavior off as "Being human?" I don't think so. Remember that we were created in the image of our heavenly Father {Genesis 1:27}. So is this the behavior of the Lord? If you believe that then I have a bridge to sell you. No, I believe that this angry behavior has little to do with how we were created yet more to do with how we remember who it is that we are. Once we understand this, then we can work on the consequences of forgetting who we are. The apostle Paul has introduced us to the idea of who we truly are inside. Paul assures us that it is Christ Jesus who now lives in us {Galatians 2:20}. This is the person we truly are, not the angry man/woman we may at times feel that we are. However, when we forget about this reality, all that's left is to believe what we see around us. If we see the anger of those around us, we will somehow believe that they are angry people. We've forgotten where we came from. It's not long before we ourselves react to the anger of those around us and become someone we were never intended to be. Did God intend for us to be his angry children? I doubt it. Many a Christian will point to Old Testament judgements and claim that God Himself is a angry and jealous God. Is that the true nature of our heavenly Father? No. John reveals to us the true nature of our Lord in his writings. He assures us that the one true nature of God...is love {1 John 4:8}. When we see the anger, resentment and angst around us, we are not seeing ourselves in the way which God sees us. For when God looks upon His children, He sees Himself in us (Well, He sees His Son in us, but we understand that when we have seen Christ we have seen the Father as well).
For the anger of man is not working the righteousness of God
James 1: 20, Concordant New Testament
Not too long ago, I noticed something interesting about my interactions with angry people. More often than not, I was confronted with a single word...I. I'm angry. I feel disrespected. I feel hurt. Get the picture? If you have been reading from the beginning you may have noticed the error in this line of thinking. If Christ is indeed in us where, then, does "I" fit in? If there is now union between myself and Jesus, where is the "I?" I'll tell you where...I no longer exist. That's right, that proud, singular thinking rascal we once were was put to death a the cross and replaced by Christ Jesus. There is no longer a I. In my vocation it has been to my advantage to reduce the stress level of many a situation I come across when dealing with the public. One thing I've noticed is that when I train myself to see those around me as they truly are everything changes. If I see myself as having Christ in me, then this is the identity of others around me as well. Now, they may not realize who they are, but that doesn't mean that I cannot see Jesus in them. This knowledge has gone a long way to deescalating more than a few sticky situations which I have faced. Instead of the angry person in front of me, I chose to see someone who needed desperately to see who it is they really were. I recall a interaction I had one morning with a angry older gentleman who I noticed was carrying a bible in his hands. Seizing upon this like a vulture, I asked the man if he knew who he was. Now disarmed from his anger, the man listened as I referred him to the words of Paul. A few moments after that, he thanked me for bringing his attention to this new revelation. Now, I'm not saying that every interaction I've had ended positively, But I left assured of the man that I am and the person they were as well. When we have this revelation, anger is easier to deal with.
There is no independent, self-operating self in the universe, except the One who calls Himself the I AM {Ex 3:14} and says, "I am the Lord and there is none else, there is no God beside Me" {Isa 45:5}.
Norman P. Grubb ~ No Independent Self
~Scott~
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