"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath."
Romans 2:5-8
This is an interesting idea... that we treasure up our own wrath. When we're hardened and impenitent (unrepentant and inflexible/unwilling to work with God), then we are basically banking all of that same stuff for ourselves, because God "will render to every man according to his deeds." That all sound pretty scary, because we might like feeling that tiny surge of power and self-importance when we refuse to work with God, but... how are we going to feel if we get that deed turned back on ourselves, and he refuses to work with us? And, depending on how long we persist in that, we'll be treasuring exactly that up for ourselves, because we'll have used up all the time that we have. It's also interesting that we would "obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath." That kind of sounds like we are listening to our own urges and emotions rather than to God. We're letting the natural man be in control, and becoming slaves to our own impulses. Which also goes along with treasuring up wrath... we're placing wrath and every other emotion *before* God. Letting them rule our lives rather than choosing to follow God. Not saying that emotion is inherently evil... there are kindness, love, compassion, and many good things in there too. But in order to be in control of our lives, we need to learn to bridle our passions, to use them rather than letting them run our lives.
Today, let's stop treasuring up wrath. Let's do some good things, and treasure up good instead. Let's make sure that we're focusing on eternal, immortal things and not living by every whim. Let's look to God for help in making sure we're obeying him rather than emotion, and not letting other things get in the way of who we want to be.
Who will render to every man according to his deeds:
To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath."
Romans 2:5-8
This is an interesting idea... that we treasure up our own wrath. When we're hardened and impenitent (unrepentant and inflexible/unwilling to work with God), then we are basically banking all of that same stuff for ourselves, because God "will render to every man according to his deeds." That all sound pretty scary, because we might like feeling that tiny surge of power and self-importance when we refuse to work with God, but... how are we going to feel if we get that deed turned back on ourselves, and he refuses to work with us? And, depending on how long we persist in that, we'll be treasuring exactly that up for ourselves, because we'll have used up all the time that we have. It's also interesting that we would "obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath." That kind of sounds like we are listening to our own urges and emotions rather than to God. We're letting the natural man be in control, and becoming slaves to our own impulses. Which also goes along with treasuring up wrath... we're placing wrath and every other emotion *before* God. Letting them rule our lives rather than choosing to follow God. Not saying that emotion is inherently evil... there are kindness, love, compassion, and many good things in there too. But in order to be in control of our lives, we need to learn to bridle our passions, to use them rather than letting them run our lives.
Today, let's stop treasuring up wrath. Let's do some good things, and treasure up good instead. Let's make sure that we're focusing on eternal, immortal things and not living by every whim. Let's look to God for help in making sure we're obeying him rather than emotion, and not letting other things get in the way of who we want to be.
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