You can’t control much of what happens to you in life. Like I mentioned a few days ago in these devotionals, you can’t control who your parents are, where you were born, and a variety of other factors that have a significant influence on your life.
But you can choose how you react to what life throws your way. You can get angry or stressed out or shrink into depression when slights come at you — or you can respond gracefully.
The choice is always yours. The Bible says, “A fool expresses all his emotions, but a wise person controls them” (Proverbs 29:11 GW). To live responsibly, we must put our minds in gear before we put our mouths in gear. We must think before we act.
When others cause pain in our lives, we often respond by trying to get even. Ironically, in our effort to “get even” with a person who has wronged us, we do get even. We sink to the other person’s level.
God calls us to a much greater response: forgiveness.
When you’re mistreated, the proper reaction isn’t to blow up or clam up. Both are irresponsible. Instead God calls us to respond to slights with calmness, love, and truth.
Here’s the bottom line: Trust God to settle the score. He has much better resources to do that than you do.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
“Así que debemos prestar mucha atención a las verdades que hemos oído, no sea que…
Consider this: The fact that the innkeeper didn’t make room for Jesus did not stop…
“Presta suma atención a estos asuntos. Entrégate de lleno a tus tareas, para que todos…
Jesus came to earth as a baby at Christmas so that we could get to…
“Desháganse de su vieja naturaleza pecaminosa y de su antigua manera de vivir, que está…
On that first Christmas, when Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph were at the end…