Theme: "And Love Is...?" (1 Cor. 13:4-7)

Not Easily Angered

As summer approaches Vacation Bible School signs are popping up everywhere.   When I see a sign the following song comes to mind:
“Booster, Booster, be a Booster
Don’t be grouchy like a rooster,
Booster, Booster, be a Booster,
And boost our Bible School!”

Children and roosters aren’t the only ones that don’t need to be grouchy.  1 Corinthians 13:5 tells us that Love is not easily angered or provoked.  In Greek “easily angered,” literally means irritable and resentful or counting up wrong doing.  

Everyone has their grouchy moments, but when we choose to live in a grouchy state of mind we are essentially taking God’s gift of love and placing a big “RETURN TO SENDER” sticker on it and refusing to open it.

The letter to the Corinthians reminds us that love is the greatest gift God has given us.  Love heals the broken hearted, draws us into relationship with God and each other, and equips us to do and to act as Jesus does.  We love because Christ first loved us through his sacrifice on the cross (1 John 14).  The question isn’t what love is, but who is God?  God is love.  God conquers all things through LOVE.  Love is the catalyst by which God makes us a new creation and is the inoculation that he uses to right all the wrongs Satan tries to inject into our lives.

Love also has staying power.  Long after a loving act is completed or a kind gesture shown, love lingers on reminding people of how much we (through Jesus) love them.  That awesome work can only come through the power of God!  God’s intention is that we live and act in this love every day, but sin in the form of envy, rudeness, pushiness, irritability, resentfulness, and general wrong doing can easily “gum up the works” and prevent love from manifesting itself fully.  

It is important when we are in situations that easily provoke our anger to choose love.  Whether we are a worn out teacher facing the tail end of a long school year, a stay-at-home mom with demanding little ones, or a busy executive under a deadline, we can choose love over grouchiness.  All we have to do is turn to God and let his love reign over our lives and relationships.  He is there waiting with an unceasing, steadfast love all wrapped up and ready to be opened.

We can also remember the wise words of Dory, the blue tang fish from the movie Finding Nemo to Marlin the easily angered clown fish:
“Dory: Hey there, Mr. Grumpy Gills. When life gets you down do you wanna know what you've gotta do?
Marlin: No I don't wanna know.
Dory: [singing] Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. What do we do? We swim, swim.
Marlin: Dory, no singing.
Dory: [continuing] Ha, ha, ha, ha, ho. I love to swim. When you want to swim you want to swim.”

Dear Father, thank you for your steadfast, healing and supportive love.  Your gift of love is amazing.   It is our desire to live and act in your love.  Forgive us when we give in to sin and choose irritability over loving kindness.  Help us when we feel like we can’t escape a bad mood even when we desire to do so.   Through the love of your son and because of his sacrifice we pray these things, Amen.

Dana Jaworski
Anchor Point, AK