Moment of Meditation: Keep Not Angry (Matthew 5:22)

Original Broadcast: May 2010

Monthly Theme: Fifth Commandment

[Jesus said:] "I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment."
(Matthew 5:22)

Keep Not Angry

Jesus had just begun His Sermon on the Mount. Having gone through the Beattitudes, He started to clarify the Law for His hearers. "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you whoever is angry with his brother WITHOUT A CAUSE shall be in danger of the judgment" (vv21-22).

Jesus comes and lifts the Law off the page. He says don't look just at the letter of the Law. Look to the Spirit behind the Law. It's not just the outward act of murder that is bad. It's the internal anger that leads a person to want to murder his neighbor. The outward act is the visible manifestation of the piling up of the inner anger towards another. The first angry thought is just as sinful as the murderous act.

With this in mind, we see how this is probably the commandment that we break the most. How often we get angry with people for little things. Shoot! How often we get angry with the computer sitting in front of us because it didn't do what we wanted it to do! We're angry people. It's our nature. But we pray that God forgives us our anger as it does just as much damage to the person we're angry against as if we had killed them.

Let us always continue to pray that the Lord will strengthen us so that we will not succumb to our natural inclinations toward anger. Keep not anger in your heart. Let God's love flow through you to everyone around you. Amen.