Letting Go

Letting Go

Bible: Ephesians 4:25-32

In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still
angry (V.26).

Reading

When someone told me off for something I hadn’t done wrong, I was annoyed for hours. I wanted to get back at them somehow and prove they were wrong. When I bumped into him again later, he met me with a smile— almost as if to say, “no offence meant”—I bit my tongue and forced myself to smile back. I asked God to help me not take offence, but the indignation burned deep. It was only after I’d made the decision to not strike back that my anger began to cool off—very slowly. While anger itself may not be wrong, Ephesians 4:26 tells us not to hang on to it, because it often only makes things worse. It is hard to do this, of course. But this little incident reminded me that letting go isn’t just about trying to control my feelings. It’s about making the decision to release someone from my judgement and stop thinking of getting even. It’s learning to forgive as a daily habit of my life. That’s why Paul links forgiveness with action—and not emotions. Our
emotions want to get even. But we forgive and let things go because we know “in Christ God forgave you” (EPHESIANS 4:32). God’s forgiveness didn’t let things go in the sense that they didn’t matter—our sin clearly does matter; Jesus had to die for it! So we let things go in the same way; realising it does matter when people hurt us, but that their sin is also dealt with on the cross, just as ours is. This truth, rather than our feelings, is the basis for dealing with our anger well—
because God completely understands our pain. Jesus went to the cross to pay for the pain we cause, but also to pay for the pain caused to us.

WE CAN LET THINGS GO WHEN WE KNOW GOD IS THE
“RIGHTEOUS JUDGE” (PSALM 9:4).

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