Do Not Let The Sun Go Down While You Are Still Angry
Here's what I've discovered about my own life when I harbor a hurt, when I'm leashed to this bench. I like to share my hurts with others. I like to play the victim. Poor Ed. And I'll tell all my friends, €Can you believe what they did to me? Can you believe what he said about me? Can you believe her? Can you believe this?€
And I rehearse it over and over and turn it over and over again on the barbecue grill of my mind. I tell all my friends about it until finally I can tell they are thinking, €Ed, chill. Man, just shut up about all that stuff.€
And if your friends start running when you start coming€¦ ha, ha! You better think about unforgiveness. We play this victim mentality. But do you realize all of the energy we burn up when we're replaying it time and time again? Oh! It'll just wear us out.
Attorneys have something called billable hours. That's right, you pay them by the hour. And they build a case and just bill it hour after hour. Then you look at the bill and you go, €Wow!€ You know?
We do the same thing in our lives when people hurt us. We have these billable hours and, man, we're just building a case against our ex, our former best friend, or that person that totally just messed me around in the business deal. We build the case, and we tell our friends about it. Wah, wah, wah. Wah, wah, wah. Wah, wah, wah. And the currency that we pay for the billable hours is an emotional currency. It zaps our energy. It keeps us tethered to unforgiveness and it messes us up because unforgiveness it's unforgiving.
Well, in essence, here's what we're doing. To really put it to where we understand it, do you know what the Bible says about our being involved in unforgiveness? I'll just tell it to you straight, just as straight as I know how. We are putting the leash in the devil's hands.
Maybe you're thinking, €Ed Young Pastor, how can you say that?€ Well, I didn't say it. The Bible said it. I'm just telling you what the Bible said. Ephesians 4:26:27. Let's read verse 26 together€¦ one, two, three: €€In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.€ Ah, we can do better than that. One more time, €€In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.€
And I rehearse it over and over and turn it over and over again on the barbecue grill of my mind. I tell all my friends about it until finally I can tell they are thinking, €Ed, chill. Man, just shut up about all that stuff.€
And if your friends start running when you start coming€¦ ha, ha! You better think about unforgiveness. We play this victim mentality. But do you realize all of the energy we burn up when we're replaying it time and time again? Oh! It'll just wear us out.
Attorneys have something called billable hours. That's right, you pay them by the hour. And they build a case and just bill it hour after hour. Then you look at the bill and you go, €Wow!€ You know?
We do the same thing in our lives when people hurt us. We have these billable hours and, man, we're just building a case against our ex, our former best friend, or that person that totally just messed me around in the business deal. We build the case, and we tell our friends about it. Wah, wah, wah. Wah, wah, wah. Wah, wah, wah. And the currency that we pay for the billable hours is an emotional currency. It zaps our energy. It keeps us tethered to unforgiveness and it messes us up because unforgiveness it's unforgiving.
Well, in essence, here's what we're doing. To really put it to where we understand it, do you know what the Bible says about our being involved in unforgiveness? I'll just tell it to you straight, just as straight as I know how. We are putting the leash in the devil's hands.
Maybe you're thinking, €Ed Young Pastor, how can you say that?€ Well, I didn't say it. The Bible said it. I'm just telling you what the Bible said. Ephesians 4:26:27. Let's read verse 26 together€¦ one, two, three: €€In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.€ Ah, we can do better than that. One more time, €€In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.€
Source...