I’m Offended! - The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional

I’m Offended!

Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.

Ephesians 4:26-27, MSG

As she was speaking, I felt my blood pressure starting to build, and I wondered whether she would soon see steam curling out of my ears. Her words were unfair and unkind to someone I love deeply, and I was angry and hurt on behalf of my loved one.

Because I’ve learned that speaking in anger rarely results in anything positive, I managed to hold my tongue, but I spent a good portion of that evening and the next day locked in an internal battle. I wanted to stomp back and tell this woman that she was being extraordinarily unfair. Every time I started down that mental path, though, I felt a tugging backward from the edge of that angry cliff and an urge to stand still. I felt an invitation to hand over that jumbled-up ball of emotions to Jesus. And so, finally, I did. In fact, I handed it to him several times—every time a new argument started in my head about why this person was wrong, I stopped and handed it over anew.

My mind returned to some wise words spoken to me by a friend years ago: “Taking up an offense on someone else’s behalf rarely ends positively.”

So I heeded my friend’s words and the advice from Ephesians 4. While anger is a legitimate emotional response, we are warned to be very careful about using anger to fuel revenge and are advised not to go to bed angry. When we dwell on our anger, we risk giving the devil a foothold in our lives.

As I set aside the angry emotions, I began to see solutions to the problem that didn’t involve me stomping angrily or severing a relationship. When I kept my lips zipped in that angry moment and went to Jesus first with my anger, the Lord worked in my heart to show me a winning solution for this woman, my loved one, and me.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

If you are holding a grudge against someone, take it to Jesus and then release it. If you need to seek reconciliation with this person, do it.