From Hero To Zero
Michael J. Brooks
It really wasn’t a big deal, but the lady thought it was.
I was walking into the grocery store when I heard a scrape of metal. A lady drove over the curb and now the curb was lodged between her front and rear tires. In other words, she was stuck. I stopped and told her I’d guide her. I had her edge forward, turn sharply, back up and so on until she positioned herself out of this predicament.
When I got her safely situated, she said, “Mister, you’re an angel sent from the Lord.”
I thought, please come and tell this to my deacons!
But the next morning I drove into the local fast-food restaurant line to get a biscuit en route to work. I stopped behind the car in front and took a few seconds to count exact change, having done this before.
I was shaken out of my arithmetic by the loud honking from the car behind me. The driver obviously wanted me to know the person in front of me had left the order station and proceeded to the window. She honked so long and persistently that my sin nature almost had me get out of the car and walk back to ask her what was wrong.
Fortunately, I didn’t.
But it was odd that when I drove forward, I was still behind another vehicle at the window and the honker in the long run gained not a second from her blast.
So, one minute I’m an angel and the next minute I’m an obstacle.
All in a day’s work.
It’s so easy to grow angry at the impatience and impertinence of others. We find that anger appears seemingly out of nowhere and at a moment’s notice. The problem is we make swift judgments based on it and live to regret what we said or did.
It’s been attributed to more than one person over the years, but someone noted three things never return: the spent arrow, the missed opportunity and the spoken word.
I’m always intrigued by Paul’s exhortation that we “be angry, but sin not” (Ephesians 4:26). Anger is part of our humanity (and part of Jesus’s humanity since the gospels record his anger on three occasions). So, no sin to be angry. But anger can lead to sin if we quickly lash out physically or verbally.
Paul also recognized our propensity to take anger to the next level. Anger can simmer like food on a stovetop and cause us to retaliate outside the moment. Thus, he continued, “Don’t let the sun set on your wrath.”
Disciples of Christ must constantly seek God’s help in dealing with difficulties of life.
Christlikeness isn’t just for Sundays. -30-
“Reflections” is a weekly faith column written by Michael J. Brooks, pastor of the Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, Alabama. The church’s website is siluriabaptist.com.
