sermon on the mount --change for the good

But I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

Of course this is all convicting. Which of us do not get angry at our brother?

We can understand that what the Lord Jesus says about the guiltiness of hate is true; that He speaks of real righteousness, and not just the superficial righteousness of merely not actually doing what is in our hearts.

As we see our total incapability of being or becoming righteous, we turn, with relief, to the truly Righteous One, the One who became sin for us that we might become His righteousness!

But, though this is an apologetic showing us our absolute need for a Savior; as is always is the case when Jesus speaks, there is a practical, daily living aspect to what He says.

Our natural attitude needs to change, and it can change.

I still feel so humiliated after being fired from my job of 32 years that I am now less prone to become angry or contemptuous.

And as I read the Scriptures and daily understand how His mercies are new every morning, I am quicker to appreciate my brother. 

LR