I am a Jesus pusher!!! Three natural steps are in this first illustration. Jesus begins with the ATTITUDE. “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:22). The same consequence Jesus gave for “You shall not murder,” He now gives for anger. If they are equal in consequence, they are equal in severity and importance. The Greek word “orgizo,” translated as angry, means “a sinful disposition of one person toward another.” A disposition is “a person’s inherent quality of mind and character.” In other words, we live in a state of anger. Our anger focuses on a person but can shift from one to another. We always seem to be angry with someone or something. If we are angry about a circumstance, there is someone responsible for the circumstance. If we are angry with someone, it is usually because of a circumstance involving them.
The irony of this is the sinfulness of our anger. Although we speak of the other person’s terrible, sinful, and evil state, we do not recognize the horrible, sinful, and evil state of our heart’s anger. Our condition was before the circumstance caused by our brother. Neither the circumstance nor our brother caused the anger. How easily we cry, “He made me do it!” We blame someone else to hide our guilt. In reality, we should embrace our brother with gratitude. God used him to reveal the condition of our hearts. Our brother is not the cause; he is the avenue of revelation. In the attitude of anger, we see what we are really like. I can only be delivered from this trap of anger by embracing my helplessness. In this embrace, Jesus fills my life with His Spirit. I am a Jesus pusher!!!