May this God of hope help us be lanterns of hope, in the world that we live, in the circumstances we are in, with the people we interact with as we go through Advent, that we may be lanterns of hope. That we may be people whose words and lives and attitudes and actions convey to a hurting world that there is hope and his name is Jesus. And this hope is there no matter what we're facing, no matter what is happening in our world or in our nation, no matter how fragile things are, no matter how disoriented the world is, that we might be lanterns of overflowing hope in this hope starved world. 

 

The step to take here is not to try to forget. The step here is not to try not to remember the event. To not remember what that person said or did to you. The step here is to simply forgive, again. You see forgiveness is more than just a singular event. A one-time thing we got through. Forgiveness is more of a posture. More of a perspective that we take on a particular event or towards a person. Where every time we remember the event. Every time it comes to mind and all the feelings around it come again. Every time we’re faced again with this decision either to demand that that person pay for what they did, or we choose once again to forgive. And not just that time but every time. Until eventually yes, you get so used to having this posture of forgiveness towards that person or towards that situation. That the event no longer stirs up feelings of anger or animosity. You see forgiveness is not a onetime set it and forget it thing that we do. It is a posture that we live in every day.  

So you're in the pool and you got a beach ball and it's full of air and you know, so obviously, in in our little example here, the air is our anger, right? So, you’re trying to keep anger under the water. You all can kind of picture what that would feel like. And we spend so much time in life like trying to keep the beach ball under the water, trying to keep our anger from, you know, popping up and showing itself. And you do that, but anybody who's ever tried to keep a beach ball under the water knows that eventually it's impossible to do because eventually, you know, it pops up and there's your anger out there for all to see.  

Unless, of course, you get rid of all kinds of anger, which in our little example would be to let the air out of the beach ball, right? Because you let the air out of the beach ball, well, it's not going to pop up anymore, right? Which is great. Now it stays under the water. The only thing is that all the pressure around you is still there. All the things that caused your anger to want to pop up, they're still there. And now that you don't have any anger in you, what are you supposed to do? Are you just supposed to live like a shriveled up beach ball? 

“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.” Ephesians 4:31 

Today’s verse is about pivoting away from whatever degree of anger is in us, whatever form it takes, whatever level it’s at, toward a new Kingdom way of being, responding, reacting that is far more beautiful and good. Today is about the action that you and I can take to open a space for the Holy Spirit and to start transforming the anger within us.  

Life in the kingdom of God is not a life of just not saying unwholesome things, but of saying things that spread God's grace out into the world. 

Ultimately, work is not about how much money it brings into us. It is about how much of us we put into what we do. See, ultimately our work is not about earning our own living. Our work is not about us being able to achieve comfort and self-sufficiency for us and for our family. Our work is not a way to establish our status in society. Our work, us doing something useful with our own hands, according to this passage, is about having something to share with others. Paul writes, "Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work doing something useful with their own hands that they may have something to share with those in need.” - Ephesians 4:28 

When you think of anger, where is it in you? How does it show itself? And maybe the most important question of all, what is the story behind your anger? Do you know it? Does anyone who loves Jesus and is near you know it? 

One reason why the people of God are called to be mature is because our vocation, yours and mine in this world, is to be Jesus's representatives. To demonstrate the goodness of his way to proclaim the gospel, through our deeds and words, to show the world what it looks like to love God and to love others. 

Jesus is our model for attitude, and behavior, and perspective, and concepts. You see, only Jesus, is the whole package. Only Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If we want to have life, real life, where we don’t just pick and choose aspects of Jesus to incorporate. We don’t pick his death for our sins so that we can get to heaven when we die. We don’t just pick his teachings as pithy words of comfort. We don’t just have him as a friend to keep us company and to keep us from being lonely. We don’t just have him as a champion for our causes, whatever our cause may be. If we want to have life we must learn the Jesus way of life. We must enroll in the school of Jesus. Where Jesus himself is the teacher. Jesus himself is the subject. And Jesus himself is the ultimate standard of truth, but it’s all of him and we have to choose him. 

Pick a situation that you are in; maybe something that is troubling you, maybe a decision you’re having to make, maybe a place you find yourself in and ask yourself the question, am I allowing Jesus to teach me how to handle this? Do I want Jesus to teach me how to handle this? 

The Bible describes a hard-hearted person in Matthew 13:15, This is Jesus speaking, “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes."

I have just an observation, you can decide it's not true, but to me it has been. The longer we are Christians, the more certain we become, the more we nurture anger and think it righteous, the higher our risk of becoming hard hearted. And throughout the Bible Gods people have often had the hardest hearts.