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Forgiveness Before Sundown

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. (Ephesians 4:26)

What's the most memorable sunset you've ever seen?

Wherever it was, it is probably locked in your memory for all time. Memorable sunsets are rare.

The Apostle Paul very likely remembers the sunsets he viewed from the mountains of Asia Minor to the blazing towers of Damascus when he wrote in Ephesians 4:26:

Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Paul knew better than most that life is filled with frustrations; exasperation was no stranger to him. Do you remember the instance when Ananias, the high priest, ordered Paul smitten in the mouth? Paul's face flushed with anger as he fired back,

God shall smite you, you whited wall. (Acts 23:3)

But it didn't take Paul very long to get over his anger. He instantly apologized. And in the words immediately preceding the scripture you read a moment ago to let not the sun go down upon your wrath, Paul says pointedly, Be angry and sin not. (Ephesians 4:26)

It seems that life is filled with exasperations:

• Saul after David
• Succoth after Gideon
• Korah after Moses
• Jezebel after Elijah
• the Pharisees after Jesus.

Yes, all of us are swindled, maligned, misinterpreted, and misunderstood. And all of us have a temper. The danger lies in the very real possibility that healthful indignation will become carnal spite and that our feelings are apt to settle down into a protracted siege of resentment and bitterness. But a prolonged grudge is the most expensive thing anyone can carry. It injures you more than the one against whom you carry it.

Nothing is any more physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting than drawn-out anger and resentment. What happens to us?

• It racks the nervous system.
• It hurts the digestion.
• It sours the disposition.
• It upsets the entire person and personality.
• It makes you uptight.
• It robs you of peace of mind.
• It disturbs your rest.

And most importantly it makes your forgiveness by the Lord an impossibility.

JESUS TAUGHT US THAT FORGIVENESS BY THE LORD IS CONTINGENT UPON OUR FORGIVENESS OF OTHERS.

Listen to what Jesus taught in Matthew 6:14-15:

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

The Bible also says:

Grudge not ... lest you be condemned. (James 5:9)

Be kind one to another ... forgiving one another [praying one for another - bearing one another's burdens]. (Ephesians 4:32)

Said General Oglethorpe to John Wesley, "I never forgive."

"Then I hope sir," said Wesley, "you never sin."

ANGER?
GET OVER IT!

In Thomas Carlyle's biography of Frederick the Great, the minister told him that he must be at peace with his enemies if he would ever enter heaven. Frederick said to his queen, "Write your brother that I forgive him. And mail it after I am dead."

God's Word says without equivocation – let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

When the sun goes down, Paul says, unclinch your tight fist and shake hands with someone.

SUNDOWN IS CURFEW TIME.

Before the curfew bell rings, bank up your fires. Throw your sarcasm and satires, your hostilities and resentments upon the blazing sunset.

You just cannot afford to carry unforgiveness beyond sundown.

Sundown is our time limit for anger.

That’s long enough to be angry anyhow.

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