Usually we are not at all dismayed-especially if we are choleric by nature-if we should happen to flare up violently when we are irritated or annoyed. For instance, if we are irritated by our disobedient children, we almost think it is natural for us to shout at them. But then we are using false standards, standards that God does not accept. God's standard is different and it is the only one that is valid. We will be judged according to it. It is the standard that Jesus gives us. In the Sermon on the Mount He speaks about being angry with our brother. He tells us what will happen, if we insult our brother or even say to him, "You fool!" (Matt. 5: 22). None of us would think-that this is a serious sin. Yet Jesus pronounces a frightful judgment over such vehement behaviour. He includes angry people with murderers, and a terrible punishment will await them. And we know that anger can really kill in a figurative sense. Children, and even adults, who have been victims of a constant barrage of angry remarks often have deep scars in their souls; it is as though something there has been put to death.
God's judgment will come down in a dreadful way upon those who persist in being angry. Jesus said that those who hurl angry insults at their neighbours will find their eternal place in the fire of hell, if they do not repent of their anger (Matt. 5: 22). Jesus tells us clearly and unmistakably: Just as the meek belong to Him, the angry belong to Satan and his kingdom of darkness. Therefore, no matter what the cost, we must be freed from anger, from flaring up and being vehement.
We must not fall into Satan's traps. We know his tricks. He tries to convince us that we have to shout at people every once in a while just as Jesus did when He drove the money-changers out of the temple. But when he tries this trick, we can only say: "Get behind me, Satan, you blasphemer!" Jesus was not a sinner like us, but the Holy One of God, filled with the spirit of love, and He was only acting out of the agony of love when He saw the sacred temple being desecrated by sin. He was angry, because He wanted to save; His anger was a reaction of His love.
On the other hand, we really ought to know what our heart is like. It is a den of robbers. Evil thoughts come out of it (Matt. 15: 19). It is like a cup of poison. If we think we are helping others to get straight, by shouting at them angrily, we are handing them a poisonous drink. Our good intentions are mixed with bitterness and indignation. Can there be anything good or loving behind our angry, vehement words when all this is resting in our hearts? What liars and hypocrites we are, if we pretend that we just want to help the other person get back on the right path by giving him a piece of our mind. In truth we usually just want to give vent to our annoyance and anger-and because this is Satan's poison, it cannot help others and free them. It will only make them more set in their evil ways.
Satan's poison of anger and flaring up has to be removed from our hearts and lives, if we want to be free from Satan's power. And Whoever fights a battle of faith in hatred against this sin will be freed from it, for Jesus has come to destroy the works of the devil. Should He not also conquer this devilish anger in us? Did not God make Moses, who killed the Egyptian in great vehemence, more meek "than all men that were on the face of the earth" (Num. 12: 3)?
We have to make an "about-face", declare war on our anger and choose the way of Jesus. "To this you have been called . . . that you should follow in his steps . . . . When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten" (I Peter 2: 21-23). In our mind let us picture Jesus, who says, "I am gentle" (Matthew 11: 29) Jesus, the Lamb of God, filled with gentleness, patience and meekness--a picture of love that overcomes all! And to this image He has redeemed us. We should reflect this love, which wins other people, which is the opposite of anger and vehemence. It is gentleness and mildness which has great power and thaws out hard hearts like a spring wind.
This way of meekness leads us to heaven. The meek are called blessed. The way of the angry leads to hell. We can choose. If we want to follow the way of the Lamb, Jesus, "the Captain of our salvation" (Heb. 2: 10 AV), will proceed us and we will tread in His footsteps. That means in practice: If we are upset and annoyed about something, we should not go to the other person immediately to give vent to our anger. Wait and pray first. Perhaps instead of hitting him with a long tirade, we might just write down a few lines on paper. We must never let the sun go down upon our anger, but humble ourselves before God and if necessary also before the people against whom we were angry. God will bless such steps taken in obedience and will remould us into gentler people.
Should it not be possible for God to make us gentle and meek? Jesus has paid the ransom price and broken the power of Satan and sin so that we no longer have to serve this sin of anger. We have truly been redeemed from the futile ways inherited from our fathers (1 Pet. 1:18). The disposition of our fathers-like vehemence and anger-which we have inherited, can no longer rule over us. This sin has been nailed to His cross and our inheritance is the new disposition, the image of God. In Christ we are a new creation, redeemed to the image of the Lamb, who was meek and humble-this we must claim in faith.
-------
Copyrighted material. Taken from YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME by M Basilea Schlink and used by permission. Further information at: www.kanaan.org
Be the first to react on this!
Basilea Schlink (1904 – 2001)
She was used of the Lord to help found the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary. The Lord has used her writings powerfully to help encourage the greater body of Christ of future sufferings for the Lord and how to endure them. Also one of the burdens of her ministry was to share in the sufferings of the Lord and share the sorrow that Jesus has for a lost world and a backslidden church."In heaven we will say, ‘Do you remember the time we celebrated a festival of heaven on earth with Mother Basilea?'" - Corrie ten Boom. "To visit one of the Kanaan sanctuaries that they have assembled around the world is to visit a taste of the kingdom on earth." - Greg Gordon
Recommends these books by Basilea Schlink:
My All for Him: Fall in Love With Jesus All over Again by Basilea Schlink
You Will Never Be the Same by Basilea Schlink
Ruled by the Spirit by Basilea Schlink
Basilea Schlink, born Klara Schlink was a German religious leader and writer. She was leader of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, which she cofounded, from 1947 to 2001.
Some years later Schlink was living in a badly bombed Germany with few resources, but it was important for her to repent for Germany's cruel treatment of other nations during the war, especially the Jews. She felt the temptation to marry like other young women did. Instead she gave her mission the first priority, and so she became a Sister of Mary.
On March 30, 1947, she and Erika Madauss founded The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary in Darmstadt. In 1948 both the founders and the first seven sisters became nuns. From then on, Dr. Klara Schlink called herself Mutter Basilea and Erika Madaus called herself Mutter Martyria. Today, The Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary has 11 subdivisons all over the world, with in total 209 sisters, and about 130 of these are situated in Darmstadt.
Klara Schlink, religious leader and writer: born Darmstadt, Germany 21 October 1904; leader, Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary 1947-2001, taking the name Mother Basilea; died Darmstadt 21 March 2001.
Basiliea Schlink was the co-founder and spiritual leader for half a century of the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary, a community dedicated to a Christian literature and radio ministry. She was herself a prolific writer, her devotional books, pamphlets and hymns being translated into more than 60 languages.
The Sisterhood of Mary, initially Lutheran but now interdenominational, numbers more than 200 women from 20 countries, with 14 men in the affiliated Canaan Franciscan Brothers. It has branched out from its centre in Germany, at Darmstadt near Frankfurt, to Australia, Israel and the United States, and has one community at Radlett in Hertfordshire. The Sisterhood publishes tracts in 90 languages and distributes them on all five continents, while its radio and television programmes are broadcast in 23 languages.
Perhaps Mother Basilea's most noted contribution to religious life was her work for reconciliation between Germans and Jews. As a young woman she had learnt with horror of the Nazi extermination of the Jewish communities of her homeland and much of Europe, and dedicated her life to seeking forgiveness and overcoming the legacy of this mutual bitterness.
As national president of the Women's Division of the German Student Christian Movement from 1933 to 1935, Schlink refused to comply with Nazi edicts barring Jewish Christians from meetings.
It was not until March 1947 that Schlink and Madauss were eventually able to fulfil their vision of establishing the Sisterhood.