Give no room

DEVOTION

EXODUS

GIVE NO ROOM

Ex 20:13

13 "You shall not murder.

NIV

That seems easy enough, just don’t kill anyone. Alright then, on to the next commandment, but wait something is missing. Jesus spoke about this, but sort of added something, or rather defined it to the fullest extent.

Matt 5:21-24

21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 3 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

NIV

Jesus compared killing someone as the same as being angry with someone. This anger can be manifested both actively and passively. When we provoke or enrage our brother that is actively, but when we become exasperated we have anger passively. At least that is what the definition of the Greek word used here for angry. Jesus also included an attitude of judgement about others, thinking them a fool. The word “Raca” means “O empty one or thou worthless one”, This type of attitude is only answerable to the law, but calling or thinking someone a fool is in danger of the fire of hell. That is pretty harsh. If we are exasperated with our brother, which would certainly include our spouse, it would be very wise to settle the matter within ourselves before even thinking about going to church, or for that matter praying about anything. The person who does the killing is the guilty one, and thus the person who is either provoking another or is exasperated with another is the guilty one. Now it is possible both parties could be guilty in this case. The one doing the provoking and the other getting exasperated because of the provoking. But both are in danger of the fires of hell if the matter is not settled. In other words there is no excuse for being exasperated or angry with our brother, spouse, no matter their actions. We are only responsible for our own thoughts and behaviors. Well, at least most people, we men, husbands are actually accountable for the behaviors and thus the attitudes of our spouses. We have also been commanded not to provoke our children. There are several different Greek words used in several different texts that tell us fathers not to provoke our children. The one that sticks out is not to stimulate them to anger, not to cause them to be enraged actively or exasperated passively. It would seem this should apply to everyone regarding everyone else, as Jesus points out. Sure murder is out of the question, but this attitude of anger seems to be somewhat acceptable, especially the passive type which no one would really know we harbor within, unless we unleash it into activity. So what is the answer? We have to live in the constant state of forgiveness. This means we cannot even say, give me a little while, I have to work through this before I can forgive you. Forgiveness requires immediate response, otherwise we are in danger of the fires of hell, hanging on for any length of time to our exasperation. Again, do we just ignore how Jesus taught us to pray, forgive us our debts or transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us? Jesus taught that if we forgive others God will forgive us, but if we do not forgive, then what? So how can we stall in our forgiveness? There is just no room for anger in any form.