Spiritual Love (9) Love Is Not Provoked
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May 23, 2021 |
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 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Love makes people's heart positive while being provoked hurts people's feelings. It makes their heart negative. It keeps people away from God. The enemy devil makes God's children stumble through anger.
Two of the biggest snares that the devil sets up for God's children are hatred and anger. Anger is not just about throwing a temper tantrum that involves violent words and actions. If your face becomes rigid, or if your tone of speech becomes brusque, it is also allowing oneself to become provoked. It means the hatred and discomfort in your heart is expressed outwardly. That doesn't mean we can judge others just by seeing their facial expressions.
Jesus once drove out the merchants and money exchangers from the Temple. At the Temple yard they were changing money into Temple currency or sold animals that were to be given as offerings. Jesus doesn't quarrel or raise His voice so that nobody would hear Him on the streets, and yet, seeing these people, He was a completely different person.
He made a whip out of cord and drove away the animals. He overturned the tables of the money changers. People might have thought He was throwing a tantrum, but He didn't have any hatred. He had righteous indignation. He taught the people the Temple could never be defiled in any way. It was out of God's love that perfects love with justice.
1. Righteous Indignation as Opposed to Anger
In Mark 3, Jesus met a man. One of his hands was dry. It was a Sabbath, and evil people were watching what He was doing. If He had healed a sick person, they'd accuse Him of violating the Sabbath.
Knowing their hearts, He asked them in Mark 3:4, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" They didn't know what to say. Grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mark 3:5).
There were people who tried to condemn and kill Him. He wanted them to turn from their sins by rebuking them. Sometimes, He expressed His righteous indignation in order to awaken the souls and lead them to the way of life. It was also out of His love.
Getting angry and having righteous indignation are different. You can show righteous indignation that can change other souls only when you are sanctified and sinless. If you still have evil in your heart, you can't bear good fruit.
2. Reason Why People Get Provoked
First, it is because of difference in opinions. Each person is raised and educated in different situations. Everyone has different ideas, manners, and standard of judgment. So, if we try to make others agree with us, it is inevitable hard feelings arise.
Secondly, you might get provoked when others don't listen to you. If you are senior or the other's superior, of course you'd expect others to listen to you. Subordinates are expected to follow the orders and obey their superiors, but it is not right to coerce obedience. This is a case where the superior wants their men to follow their orders while they don't listen to their subordinates' opinions at all.
Other than the above 2 cases, you might become provoked if you suffer a loss, or if you are unfairly treated or wrongfully accused; if things don't turn out as you want them to; or if you are insulted by others.
In most cases, before they get angry, they have some bad emotions that arise in their hearts. Words or behaviors of others agitate the emotions, and finally it comes out as an outburst of anger. Feeling uncomfortable is just a step away from being provoked. If we get angry, we can't dwell in God's love; it causes great damage to our spiritual growth.
We can't change by the truth as long as we have hard feelings, and therefore we must cast away all anger and such outbursts. The Holy Spirit dwells in our heart and God is watching. Let us remember this fact and not get angry just because some things don't agree with our thoughts.
3. The Righteousness of God Cannot Be Achieved with Anger
The prophet Elisha of the Northern Kingdom of Israel received a double portion of his master Elijah's spiritual power.
He gave a child to a childless woman. He revived a dead man. He healed a leper. He defeated the enemy army through prayer. He put salt into undrinkable water and changed it into good water. Nevertheless, as a rare case for a prophet, he died of a sickness. Why?
When he was going up to Bethel, a group of young lads came out from the city and mocked him and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead; go up, you baldhead!" (2 Kings 2:23). He was very embarrassed because there were many of them. He scolded them and tried to reason with them, but they wouldn't listen. They were very persistent and it was hard for him to bear any longer.
Bethel is the base of idolatry in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Thus, young lads in that area must have had a hardened heart being in such a culture. They could have stopped Elisha, spat on him, cursed at him, or even thrown stones at him. Finally, Elisha cursed them and 2 female bears came out of the woods and tore up 42 of them.
This was originally due to the excessive mockery of the lads, but we see that Elisha was not perfect either. It is certainly related with his death by sickness. We can realize that getting angry is not right in the sight of God (James 1:20).
4. To Have Love That Does Not Get Provoked
The stronger you compress a metal spring, the stronger force of rebound it gets. It's the same with suppressing our anger. If we just try to suppress it, we might not get angry for the moment, but it will someday explode.
Therefore, in order for us to cultivate love that does not get provoked, we must cast away the anger itself. We should not just suppress it but we have to transform our heart with goodness and love so that we won't have to bear with anything in the first place.
Of course, we can't just cast away all hard feelings and fill ourselves with love overnight. We need to try consistently every day. When we face an anger-provoking situation we need to control ourselves leaving the situation to God. When we actually get angry, we need to think about what benefit getting angry would bring to us.
As we endure by the help of the Holy Spirit and pray, we will gradually be able to cast away the anger itself. The frequency of getting provoked will be reduced little by little. Later, even in a very provoking situation, we'd be able to maintain peace of mind (Prov. 12:16, 19:11).
Dear brothers and sisters,
The living God watches us all the time. He searches each of our words and thoughts. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will always show holy words and behaviors before God.
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