Sermon No. 9

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, all evil speaking, be

put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another,

tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath

forgiven you.”

– Ephesians 4:31-32

Anger and hatred are two sides of the same coin. And the result of both is the same: misery. Their purpose in our lives is singular – to nibble away at our soul until we are a mirror reflection of the one who infected us with those unwanted gifts.

Yet, we sometimes fail to realize simple truths. Sometimes we are born into families who embrace anger like an old friend. Sometimes it is thrust upon us without being asked, like a drug addict who wants a friend to get high with. And when we accept it without asking why, we are surrendering ourselves to it, imprisoning ourselves.

Like hatred, anger is a heavy burden that can be shrugged off. But sometimes we need help, only because we may not be strong enough by ourselves. But together, we can work wonders. But only God can work miracles.

Bitterness is a bitter, jagged pill that we swallow to help the anger, the wrath of hatred fill us. We clamour about like a preening chicken with no head. The evil we speak in denouncing the blessings heaped upon us weakens us spiritually almost to the point that we denounce God Himself. Let all evil thoughts and words and deeds be put into a box made with malice and lit on fire, purging ourselves of their influence in our lives. Only then, with the help of our true friends and with God’s help can we
let go of the negative influences in our lives. Letting go. Turning the other cheek. We do not do it often enough. And I am curious as why that is. Do we not turn the other cheek because we are afraid of what we might miss? Or because we are afraid of letting go of something that has been a part of us for so long?

Yet, we all fail to realize if we let go of the anger, with time it will fade until we have forgotten about it like a bad dream born of a fever.

That is God’s gift to us all.