• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection Slow to anger

Slow to anger

Posted on September 30, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


The prophet Nahum tells us

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Nahum 1:3)

Anger warning

We misrepresent God by being quick to anger rather than slow. Many examples of harsh comments on blog posts and angry rants by those who claim to be Christian can be found on the internet. I have been sent YouTube links showing sermons by pastors condemning people for grievous sins such as women wearing pants or using any version of the Bible other than King James. When Christians behave in this way, we lend support to the view of God as an angry deity who can’t wait to mete out punishment on sinners.

This is not the picture of God that we see in Jesus. Jesus was called a “friend of sinners.” The bottom rungs of society flocked to him and enjoyed being around him. Why? Perhaps because he was slow to anger and interacted with those people with grace and acceptance.We would do well in imitating Jesus in this.

I am too often quick to anger, especially when my pride has been assaulted. There have been many emails and a few blog posts that I’ve had to delete because my response to a situation was in anger rather than grace. There have also been some emails that I should have deleted, but didn’t which caused me some trouble. My anger accomplishes nothing good.

Nahum reminds us that being slow to anger does not mean that the knuckleheads will get away with anything.  Notice that he tells us that God will not let the guilty go unpunished. Rather than responding in anger, the fact that the guilty will not go unpunished should spur us to prayer on their behalf. God is slow to anger and is longing for the guilty to repent. We should share in that longing rather than looking forward to their punishment.

It seems to me that if we want the world to allow us to confront their sin, we should first learn to confront our own sin. When we allow God to displace our anger and replace it with love and grace, then the world will know that our message is one that should be heeded. We will then have the evidence to show that the Gospel is indeed good news.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection Tagged With: anger, guilty, punishment

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Blank Check

A check that won’t bounce

During a recent Bible study where we were discussing the resurrection of Jesus I thought of the analogy of writing a check. Jesus claimed to have power over death, he claimed that he would die and then rise again. Using the analogy of writing a check, Jesus wrote a large check to us when he promised that we could be raised to new life.

C. S. Lewis on responding to pain

A quote from C. S. Lewis on what is effective in helping someone respond to the pain of a difficult time provides a challenge to all believers.

Fire Hose

Drinking from a fire hose – four good apologetics blogs to follow

There are so many good writers on the ‘net. To narrow it down, I provide a list of four of my favorite Christian apologetics blogs for your consideration

From God to Us

Book Review: From God to Us by Geisler and Nix

This post is a review of the book, From God to Us by Geisler and Nix. A work that should be on the shelves of any serious Bible student.

6 Questions to Ask Before Presuming on Grace

I have had a few discussions lately with people that have struggled with the tension between law and grace. This is not a new question, and the Bible does have some things to say to us as we work out how to navigate through this tension. There are many issues on which the Bible is […]

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
May 2023
SMTWTFS
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031 
« Apr    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in