Matthew 5:18-26
John was a pretty ordinary guy. He and his family lived in a nice neighborhood. He was educated and came from a good home. He loves and respects his wife Emily and adores his kids.
But one day John was driving his wife and two kids to Jasper for a planned family vacation. Emily just wanted to tidy up the car before they got there. She grabbed some garbage from the center console to put in a bag. Before he knew what happened, John snapped at her with anger in his voice. “Just leave that alone!” There was so much venom in his voice that Emily pulled away and sat quietly in her seat not moving. The boys in the back seat went silent as well.
John’s outburst surprised even him. He proceeded to judge himself for acting irrationally. This is not how a well-educated family man is supposed to behave. But wanting the whole incident and how he felt about it to go away, he attempted to ignore it. He didn’t apologize to Emily. And they got on with their visit in Jasper. But John kept judging himself for his uncontrolled anger.
This wasn’t the first time he lost his temper like this. It was a pattern. He snapped in anger at his wife for years not even knowing why. It happened so he couldn’t identify a trigger. It really confused him because he really loved and appreciated Emily.
