Ooouch! My words were barely cold yesterday with talking about Grace and what happens? I'm confronted by someone with no people skills and unable to have a civilised conversation.
My normal instinct is to fight back, but I could clearly see this would only make things worse if I did. Thankfully thoughts of grace came to mind and I walked away from the confrontation and decided to find a more reasonable solution. Not easy to do when someone is hurtling abuse at you!
James 1 talks about the fact that we should count it a joy when we are faced with trials and temptations. The reason the writer James says, is that these are sent to test our faith and build patience. This isn't just our faith for believing for things that we are waiting for but the actual essence of our Christianity.
So how did that apply to my situation? In times past I would have entered into a screaming match with the other person. Over time hopefully I've learned to control my anger and respond with less agression.
Don't get me wrong, being angry is not the sin, but God's word tells us, "Be angry but don't sin". We do this by expressing our anger in a constructive way, i.e. Telling the person that we have an issue with calmly, "I have to discuss an issue with you because it has made me very angry."
So, as we learn to pass these tests, it will mean on less trip "around the mountain".
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