Wrath (Part 1)
“So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath…” Luke 4:28
My home has both a fireplace and a woodstove. We only use the fireplace once or twice per year, because it doesn’t burn efficiently and only heats the area nearby. The woodstove, which is vented into all the other rooms of the house, gets very hot and burns wood very efficiently. Just shove in the wood, shut the door, and the wood will burn slowly for hours.
When my husband tends the burn pile outdoors, he squirts some gasoline on the wet branches and leaves, then throws a match on it. Flames immediately explode, then die back quickly.
The word for wrath in Luke 4:28 is thumos, which denotes inflammatory rage, exploding anger, boiling agitation, impulsive outbursts of hot anger.* This reminds me of the burn pile with its gasoline-ignited flames. To make a spiritual analogy, something can inflame the heart and mind of a person to burn with quick, hot anger.
There is another word for wrath, orge, which presents anger as a settled habit.* This seems to speak more of the woodstove, with its ever-present, seething smolder. Any bit of added fuel in the form of kindling or logs will cause it to burn longer and longer. This is like a person whose unresolved anger is always simmering just below the surface. They stir up trouble and are easily offended.
What fuels your flames of anger? Do you have a slow burn that is never quite extinguished because fuel is continually being added? The embers are always glowing. Things that happened in the past have come to take the joy away from the present. Perhaps this is injustice, unfairness, grief, fear, pain, strong opinions, or unforgiveness. Burdens just seem to pile on top of one another, with no end in sight. Burn, burn, burn.
What would put out this flame? With the conviction, help and teaching of the Holy Spirit, we can deprive it of fuel. Forgive people. Have grace and mercy, for we are all sinners in varying stages of sanctification (being made holy). Live in peace with others as much as we are able. Love one another.
This is a simplistic look at a difficult topic; a short devotional like this one can’t possibly cover all the reasons for wrath nor address it completely. But we can follow the advice of our Lord found in Colossians 3:8: “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.” We who know and follow the Lord are to take responsibility for living in peace with others. Let’s check our own hearts for traces of anger, and take them before the throne. Tomorrow, we will look at what we can do in the heat of the moment.
Father, I ask forgiveness for my flaming, angry outbursts, as well as for the slowly simmering habits of anger I have unknowingly fed. Cleanse me from these sins, and help me to live a life that exemplifies Christ, Who sometimes had legitimate reasons for anger, but Who nevertheless did not sin. In His Name I pray, Amen.
Thank you, great analogy…always a work in progress and if we’re not careful we can either put too much gasoline and the “burn pile” can get out of control, spreading and scorching the very people around it we are trying to love and protect.