You must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. (Colossians 3:8)
Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)
Have you ever gone to the doctor only to be told that he didn’t know what was wrong with you but he could give you some pills to make you comfortable? You are comfortably sick. That is what it is like when you find relief from sin instead of obtaining cleansing. Relief from sin allows you to be comfortably separated from God.
As a follower of Jesus you need to take the subject of sin seriously. If sin is the diagnosis, there couldn’t be better news! There is a cure for sin. Jesus died to cleanse us from sin. The cure is fast if you use the proper diagnosis and treatment. If you fail to get a proper diagnosis for your outbursts of anger, and hostility towards others, you can spend a long time being sick.
The Bible calls anger and hostility sin. If you accept this diagnosis, turn to God, confess your sin, and repent. You will receive forgiveness, cleansing and renewal. If you reject the sin diagnosis you will continue to look for another source to blame, probably family or friends.
If you are going to deal with your sin, you must turn to the Creator and Savior for cleansing, strengthening, and changing. If it is sin, society did not put it into you; society only stirs up what is already in you. If it is sin, society can’t help you. This diagnosis of sin requires a supernatural cure.
The cleansing process is like taking off dirty clothes and putting on clean clothes. The Colossians verses above instruct us to put off, or get rid of, anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. We are then told to put on, or clothe ourselves with, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
The choice is yours. Are you a Christian who turns to God for a cure? Are you a Christian and partial humanist who turns to the world for relief from sin? What will it be, a little relief or a real cure?