Change Of Heart (Daily Devotional)

Shalom and thank you for joining us for our last episode in this series. We hope this entire episode has really helped and worked on how you can deal with your anger, as we have looked through different verses in scripture. In our verse today, we are looking at a verse from the New Testament, Mathew chapter 5, verse 22 and it reads, ‘But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.’ We are looking at what Jesus said about anger through this verse and what His teaching is. The importance of what our inner attitudes and the words we use. This verse actually calls us to a higher standard of righteousness and it urges us to guard our mouths and speech especially in anger. Here, Jesus is shifting the focus from outward actions to inner attitude. He is calling for a change of heart, even in times of anger, He is calling for a change of heart. We see in these verses that it is not just about avoiding murder which we read about in the verses that precede this but it refers to that commandment, you shall not murder. But He says that addressing the anger can lead to harmful action. He teaches that when we harbor anger against someone, it makes one liable to judgement meaning that God judges the heart and not only the actions. Jesus also warned of the usage of words that can be disparaging. Over here, it talks about ‘raca’ and this had a derogatory expression, generally to mean an empty- headed person or a person who was worthless. It was an offensive name or a label that shows an utter contempt for another person and that is what Jesus warns of the usage of such words to describe someone like this was equivalent to murder. Jesus not only warns about harboring unrighteous anger which can escalate to murder but He is explicitly commanding us to even avoid name calling, derogatory remarks. These words actually expose the intent of our heart. It exposes what are the intentions of our mind. It says, we will be accountable for them in judgement. The implication of this teaching is quite simple that Jesus wants us to pay attention to the attitudes of our heart. We need a change of heart. He calls us for an inward transformation, a change of heart and attitude, not just an action. He stresses that its just not the law’s letter that is enough but the condition of the heart is extremely crucial. We see that this is a recurring theme in all of what Jesus taught us, the necessity of genuine, sincere righteousness that transcends into outward actions. This verse challenges us and reflects on the quality of our relationships and the way in which we may handle conflict. So, they call us to really look deeper into our attitudes, thoughts and heart. The message is going beyond avoidance of mere ager, it is actually cultivating a spirit of love, empathy and having a right heart in the sight of God. Let’s pray, Heavenly Father, even as we wrap up our understanding, your truth about anger, we pray that you will help us evaluate our own hearts. Give us a change of heart. May our attitude toward people and others be changes. May we focus on love and peace and patience even at times of distress. Thank you for building us up, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week’s theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week’s devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.