Sometimes this is easy. Sometimes, it is not.
Today has been one of those not-easy times. I have a friend whom I really love and that friend has made a really bad decision. The worst part is that they (which I know is bad grammar, but I'm trying not to give away who it is here) knew better. So my first instinct is to get angry. My next instinct is to vent to someone, which I can't do because that is actually gossip and gossip is a sin, and remember, we are supposed to "anger and sin not."
This is my question: What do I do with my anger?
I have found that the best place to go with questions like this is: the Bible (who knew?) and this is what I have discovered today...
- Ephesians 4:27 says "Do not give the devil a foothold." This explains why it is bad to sin in our anger. It gives the devil the upper hand. He can use our anger against us if we sin.
- Ephesians 4:29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen
- "Love each other deeply" 1 Peter 4:8 "because LOVE covers a multitude of sins."
- "Remember this: whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins." James 5:20
- "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs." Proverbs 10:12
- "LOVE is not rude, self-seeking, or easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs." 1 Corinthians 13:5
So pray for my friend. But pray for me too, as your friend. 'Cause I'm gonna need it.
I remember from one talk at church, they said "When you're angry, let it out TO God rather than taking it out ON someone." Tell God about it. It's not gossiping to go to Him with your problems.
ReplyDeleteThat said, though, I'm not sure it would be gossiping to talk to someone else about this. Because it's obviously making you anxious and it's not fair that you should have to bottle that up - I think it's okay to share it with one or two people you can TRUST, and share it by means of explaining the situation, not bitching about your friend. You're not doing it to be malicious - you're doing it so that you have support. And I don't see anything wrong with that.
In terms of talking to your friend, though, it depends much more on the situation, I think. You said they knew better - do they realise, now, that they've done wrong? Or does it still need pointing out to them? I'm sure there is a verse somewhere about if you know someone's done wrong, you should make them aware of their sins. The only one that specifically comes to mind is Leviticus 5:1 - "If you sin by not stepping up and offering yourself as a witness to something you've heard or seen in cases of wrongdoing, you'll be held responsible." (The Message) Ie if you know something's wrong but you aren't doing anything to stop it, you're responsible too. So that said, I think it probably is the loving thing to do to talk to your friend about it.
But yeah, keep praying about it & go to God with the problem. I'll pray about it too :)
Yeah, thanks so much for this!
ReplyDeleteI actually did talk to the pastor's wife at my church here about this and that was good, and I told my friend that I did not think this was a good situation to get into. We'll see what happens. It's one of those things that are really easy to get into and really hard to get out of, if you know what I mean. So I feel better today about it, but I'm still praying!
Sounds like you're doing the right things so far then. I'll keep the situation in my prayers! x
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