What price would you pay for peace in your life? Does it seem like turmoil and trials have taken over the space where peace and freedom used to reside? There is an opportunity that presents itself each and every time we are presented with confrontation. Sometimes our desire to be right can even overshadow our desire to be godly. Our buttons get pushed and we are pushed to the limits. As a petulant teenager, one of my siblings used to say that someone "tried" them when adults confronted them about a fight they may have been in. And the truth is that so many of us are "tried" day in and day out even as adults, and we allow anger and pride to rule how we choose to respond in those situations. But today's word is brief and to the point: Proverbs 16:32 gives us instruction in wisdom that seems to speak directly to that very thing. It says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city."
I appreciate that God associates power and might with the ability to respond beyond our angry places. Having temperance over emotions can serve as the biggest tool you have and make you mightier than even those who conquer cities. It seems hard to imagine that the simple idea of self-control empowers us to truly act in accordance with God's will. But it does. When we make decisions to not allow ourselves to be "tried" in a court of our emotions, we present our spirits with the sentence for freedom and peace. And that, right there, is priceless.
Be encouraged to choose temperance in the face of confrontation today...
Blessings,
MinD
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