Love is not Easily Angered!

When God tells us that love is not easily angered, He means just that.

We are not to be touchy, easily provoked, fretful, resentful, suspicious, or oversensitive with our feelings. We are to be very slow to get angry, and we are not to let little things cause us to “fly off the handle.” Because God loved us so much, He did not allow His anger to wipe us out of existence when we so much deserved it. Instead, He allowed His drama of redemption to unfold throughout history, climaxing with the Person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to try to understand other people, and with respect, place ourselves in the shoes of another. We need to listen, and not allow our hostile feelings to get the best of us. We are not to let the sun set before we extinguish our anger with our spouse. Since God is patiently working in us, we should reciprocate with the understanding of the debt we owe to God and the unfathomable love and concern He has for us. Love puts us in another’s shoes.

Authentic Love is not touchy or resentful, and does not “fly off the handle!”

Anger is a vice, sin that abuses others and us and should never have a foothold in us. When we are easily provoked, we show a lack of self control and a lack of trust in our Lord. All this does is bring us to the same level of spitefulness and bitterness as others and we come to live in it ourselves. When this happens, we must seek to break the bonds of this sin that seek to destroy others and us. Our faith must be love-filled so it affects our actions, our verbal expressions, our mannerisms, and our body language so we reflect our Lord. If not, our faith and thinking are skewed or even absent. Anger is formed from our doubts and fears as well as frustrations—our unmet expectations that will destroy God’s past, present, and future work in us. It will neuter what God wants to do in us and take a teaching point to edify and forge it into a weapon that harms others.

It is interesting to point out that the modifier word “easily” does not appear in the original Greek texts but first shows up in the KJV and survives in most translations today. Why? Two reasons: one, we sometimes have to add modifier words to smooth out the language from translations so it is more readable (grammar is different in Greek than English) as long as it is in context. Also, it is said that King James, who commissioned the translation, was easily angered and thus the translators wanted to convict him. Nonetheless, easily fits the context and meaning (Prov. 12:16; Eccl. 7:9; Matthew 5:22; Rom. 2:8; 12:19; Eph. 4:26-18, 31; Col. 3:8; James 1:19-21; 3:9-10).

Questions to Ponder

1. Any church that lacks love will have disorder. Why? How have you seen this so? How have you seen Christ the Lord replaced with pride and strife?

2. How does love help us be submissive to God and be better examples to others? How does your faith factor in with your love?

3. What needs to take place in you for you to be better at listening, and not allowing your hostile feelings to get the best of you?

4. What can you do to keep the little things from causing you to “fly off the handle?” What can be done to improve your attitude and your church?

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