Yep, from the looks of this sign, which is supposed to come from NY State, the political season is off and running at full speed. Hillary Clinton is compared to parts of a chicken. Is parts still parts? In case you have a difficult time reading the sign it says:

And the jokes are maddening!

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The Hottest Selling Political Bumper Sticker
Finally, a new bumper sticker for BOTH political parties.

This hottest selling political bumper sticker comes from New York State:

“RUN HILLARY RUN”

Democrats put it on their rear bumper.

Republicans put it on their front bumper.
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It’s getting politically nasty already. But, what else is new?

There are at least six ways to prevent disctructive anger. Anger is an emotion which is God-given. To try to eradicate anger is to put aside a real gift which God has entrusted to us. Anger left to itself can become unhealthy and destructive. Anger in this realm needs some prevention. Here are six:

Prevention #1: Biblical Teaching. Scripture has a lot of information concerning anger. In the church we have been more prone to dismiss all anger as a sin, rather than share in a clear, practical, and relevant way about anger. We are focused on providing relevant information on dealing with anger so we can all come to more health in our emotional lives.

Prevention #2: Avoid Situations And People That Arouse Your Anger. We do not overcome obstacles by hiding from them. Often we avoid because it is unpleasant or we want to be peacemakers. Wisdom often demands that we face frustrating situations directly and difficult people squarely. However, having said this, there are times—Ecclesiastes tells us there is a time for everything—when it is better to stay away from situations and people who will likely arouse unnecessary anger in you.

Prevention #3: Build Self-Esteem. Anger is much less likely to become destructive in our lives when we are not plagued with constant feelings of self-doubt—that cancerous feeling that we do not count for anything. When believers have a realistic picture of themselves as people of value, there is less inclination to become angry. Feed your self-image with Scriptural theology—namely that Christ died for your sins—that in itself makes you valuable to him and thus to others.

Prevention #4: Refrain From Constant Meditation. When you are angry and you go through your day constantly meditating on your anger, it will surely increase. If you are unfortunate enough to have others who are meditating on their anger around you all day, you will begin to pick up their anger as well. The outcome: a whole mind-set of negativism and bitterness that grows deeper as you grow older. This kind of thinking is destructive to your personality.

Prevention #5: Learn To Control. Into every life will come disagreement and conflict. Without conflict there is no growth. However, we do not have to let conflict become combat. We can be confrontive and tell others how we feel, what we think, and what we want. We can learn as believers to speak gently and in love. Learning to speak honestly and effectively will reduce destructive anger.

Prevention #6: Be Controlled By The Spirit. Uncontrolled anger is one of the listed deeds of the flesh. Uncontrolled anger is an attitude of this present evil age (Galatians 5). The opposite attitude is self-control, a fruit of the Spirit. Remember, fruit grows and becomes ripe. Self-control is actually being controlled by the Spirit. Committing our lives on a daily basis to the control of the Spirit goes a long way in becoming a mature believer and preventing destructive anger.

One thing is constant in life, change! We change daily. The antidote to change is death. We all think that change is hard. Is it or have we been duped into thinking it is? As an example, our physical body changes on a daily basis. The world we live in changes. Our daily lives change. Are these changes difficult or normal? Our first response might be difficult, but when we consider change, it really is normal.

Paul tells the Roman church in the first century that one of their goals is to become like Jesus (Romans 8.28-3 1). In order for one to become like something else, change must happen. This process of change began when you were impregnated with new life. From that point until death we continually change to become the people that God created us to be.

Making Spiritual Change
It appears that we have placed ourselves in a mind-set that often requires a tragedy to occur before specific change takes place. Sometimes we are allowed by God to do some rather stupid things so we can see the poverty of our life and make a change. Tragedy and stupidity don’t have to be the catalyst that brings change into our lives. We can develop spiritual disciplines that will allow us to change at a normal rate rather than a radical rate. Normal sounds better to me! Here are a few suggestions that may help in the process of normalizing change.

Critique Your Present Life
This sounds scary! Especially in a day where we have been abused with self-analysis. But in order to make any lasting change you need to know where you are now. Here are some recommendations: Check out the ordinary things in your life. What about health? Do you get enough rest? Do you have a proper diet? Do you exercise enough? Ouch, you say. This may not sound very spiritual, but it is. Remember, you are a whole person, and one part at risk makes other parts at risk.

Look At Your Commitments
Take some time and look at your life schedule. Scripture teaches that we should take at least one day a week to rest and recuperate from our busy schedules. To not abide by this admonition only causes burnout. We get frustrated, irritated, and angry. We jump to the conclusion that these feelings are because the Devil or one of his demons is attacking us and we feel victimized. We begin a battle for deliverance so that we do not become angry or frustrated so easily. Recently, I saw a former student who was struggling with anger in the same way as the last time I saw her over ten years ago. She was going through the same unhelpful ministry to try to relieve the difficulty. Her real problem could be that she simply is making the wrong choices about her commitments and the result is her feeling of not enough time which results in her bouts with anger.

Establish An Order Of Priorities
After you have taken a realistic look at your commitments, set some guidelines, then make the changes slowly and gradually. It is true that the more important things in life often get crowded out. The real enemy of the best in your life is the good. In order to set priorities that are meaningful, you may have to say no to some good things in order for the best to take place. We let the circumstances of the moment control us because we do not have a life-plan which guides our steps.

We must constantly be reminded that God is interested in our change. He really does want us to become like his son Jesus.

Some Basic Spiritual Disciplines
When I hear the word discipline I often think, This is going to hurt. Again, a mind-set that often causes us to react because we are into pleasure not pain. Spiritual disciplines in our life are not things that we do legalistically to try and impress God with our sincere goodness. They do not make us righteous. They do not make us special or superspiritual. They just help us change and become. We do them because we love what God has done for us. We open ourselves to God so that through them he may work into us the life-style that he has created us for. Here are a few of the disciplines:

I change when I read the Bible devotionally. What does it mean to read devotionally? It simply means to read it like you would normally read a book, but with one great difference. This book will provide you with practical application. You do not have to be concerned with the meaning of words, the culture, or history. You plainly ask the question, How does this passage apply to me? We should not confuse this with Bible Study, where we are trying to understand the meaning of the text. How the Spirit of God may apply any passage of Scripture to your life does not mean that the application is the contextual meaning of that passage. To believe so and to share such as meaning is to do damage to Scripture and, in the final analysis, make God say something that he never intended to say. Read Scripture devotionally and be changed!

I change when I study the Bible. To study is to give attention to the meaning of words, the culture, and the history of the day. It means that you should stop and look up words that you do not understand. If you don’t know who Baal is, or what a Zealot is, or who Eudoia is, or any word in the passage you have chosen to study, you will never understand the passage you are studying. When you are studying Scripture you are trying to answer the question, What could these words have meant to the first hearer or reader? Whatever they meant to them, they will still mean today to us. In order to study, you need to have tools. If you are going to build anything, it is important to have the necessary ingredients to produce the expected outcome. You would not try to build a house without the tools and lumber necessary. Neither should you try to build an accurate understanding of Scripture without investing in some primary tools. A good Bible dictionary like Revel’s Bible Dictionary or New Bible Dictionary, Second Edition, is a good place to begin. Study Scripture and be changed!

I change when I pray. When you talk to anyone, you change. You may change your views. You may change your vocabulary. You may change your attitudes and many other characteristics of your life may change during a conversation with another. The process of communication with your parents, your spouse, your children, your boss, all brings change and keeps your relationship growing and on the right track. The same is true when you talk with God. Talking to him often seems strange. It appears like you are talking to yourself. Prayer includes talking and listening. Often we do the first part and then we stop. How would you feel if you were communicating with a significant other in your life and when they finished they just got up and left without giving you a chance to respond? We think that prayer is talk, but if you talk first then you listen, or you listen then you talk. It’s a two-way street. When you pray, you will change. Pray and be changed!

I change when I give. Whoops, there’s the “G “word. Yelp!, this is the truth, you say, I do change. I get poorer. Funny what a poor mind-set produces. What actually occurs when you give is that you become more wealthy. Give and it shall be given to you, pressed down and overflowing. This is an interesting point of view that runs counter to what the world teaches us about giving. The world says Take! God says Give! This discipline in your life will cause you to change for the better, as do all the others. God provided a model when he gave Jesus for us. We have lots of things to give. We have time, we have possessions, we have money. God is not interested in how much you give. He is interested in how much it costs you to give. Give and be changed!

I change when I fast. We dread this discipline because we are asked to give up something meaningful. Ugh! Our society produces two kinds of fasting that is visible: Fasting to draw attention to a special cause. Fasting to lose weight. The first could be called manipulation while the other could be called vanity. The spiritual discipline of fasting does not focus on what we can get or how we can look better. Its focus is God. John Wesley wrote about fasting in the following way. “Let it be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven” (Sermons on Several Occasions, 1971, 301). When we think fast, we often think doing without food. But if you have a medical problem, if you are pregnant or nursing a baby, doing without food is insane. We could say that fasting is the voluntary denial of a normal function so that you can give the time that would be used doing that function to spend focusing on God. You might fast from the telephone for a day or two. You might fast from people, or from talking so much. Paul tells the Corinthian church that married couples can fast from sexual intimacy for a short period of time in order to pray (1 Cor. 7.4-6). Fast and be changed!

I change when I am quiet. The world is full of racket. This very fact makes it difficult to be quiet. We have to work at being quiet. We have to make it a value in life for it to happen. We need to be active in life and we need to be quiet. Solitude does not mean lonely. It is finding the quietness we need to focus on God. Jesus practiced solitude and quietness in order to be alone with God. You can find solitude in the strangest places. In an airplane, in a car (without the radio on), during a walk, to mention a few. These times don’t just happen. They need to be scheduled into our lives. A lot of people don’t like to be alone or quiet. This forces them to focused thinking. Noise keeps us from having to think. We become slaves to noise instead of being freed by quietness. There is a danger in staying apart from others too long. Those of you who like being alone must not isolate yourself from the community. Solitude and quietness are to bring us to a better place to be of service to God, not a place to sit and sulk over our wounds. Be quiet and be changed!

Change can and should be normal as we begin to practice the basic Spiritual disciplines of life.

There are at least five causes of anger. Anger is an emotion which God created into every human being. Scripture continually tells us that God was angry. Over three hundred (300) times in the Old Testament we are told that God was angry. Paul tells us to be angry but not to sin. This implies that there is sinful anger and sinless anger. There may be as many causes of anger as there are situations in life. However, causes of anger can be summarized in five categories.

Category #1: Biology. There is evidence that anger can be caused by allergies, brain disease, disorders of body chemistry. One documented case demonstrated that eating bananas set up a brain chemistry that caused temper tantrums in a young boy. When bananas were deleted from the diet, the temper tantrums stopped.

Category #2: Injustice. This may be the only valid reason to be angry. It is also the least mentioned. Jesus’ anger at the injust use of the Temple is a Biblical illustration. There are all kinds of injustices in the modern world which can cause anger to swell up in a believer. Remember, anger is not wrong; how you respond to it will be right or wrong.

Category #3: Frustration. Frustration is defined as an obstacle which hinders us from reaching a goal in life. We may become frustrated because of the actions of others which prevent us from reaching our goal. Or we may become frustrated because of our own failures or inabilities which hinder us from reaching the goal. The extent to which we feel frustrated will depend on the importance of the goal which we have set. The potential for anger increases as the severity and frequency of the frustrations increase.

Category #4: Threat and Hurt. Anger is aroused when you feel that you have been rejected, put down, ignored, humiliated, or unjustly criticized. Anger which is caused by hurt usually ends up in depression, destructive action, or psychosomatic symptoms. Some believe that hurt and anger always go together.

Category #5: Learned. Different cultures get angry over different issues and express their anger in different ways. In short, we learn to act when we are angry according to the models which have been set before us. What we have learned about acting out our anger can be unlearned.

Don’t make friends with anyone who has a bad temper. You might turn out like them and get caught in a trap.(Proverbs 22.24-2 5 The Contemporary English Version).

I love a good parody. I saw one at the close of the year, so I thought I would give it a try. It was fun to work on. Go ahead, take a pique.

It’s called: The Rapture Manifesto.

New Years Resolutions. You’ve made ‘um. You’ve broke ‘um. Here it is another year beginning and there are most likely millions of resolutions that have been made and my midnight January 1, 2007 lots of them will have already bit the dust.

Two passages of Scripture from the Story of God may suggest two thoughts that might lead to an intentional resolve for 2007.

In the first chapter of the book of James, he writes: If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. We often say that we need the wisdom of God. We quote our favorite passages of Scripture thinking we have found and can recite that wisdom. We must remember that quoting verses of Scripture are not simply Christian Proverbs to be used to get anything we think we need. There are four areas of wisdom which James discusses. We should to be aware of all four.

• There is the wisdom to control one’s tongue: 3.1–18.
• There is the wisdom to submit to God: 4.1–10.
• There is the wisdom not to slander one another: 4.11–12.
• There is the wisdom not to boast: 4.13–17.

One of the problems that is that believers who desire to be teachers without the ability to control their tongue. He treats this problem in the first eighteen verses of Chapter 3. I want to draw you attention to the first 10 verses.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

In this treatment of the problem James provides six illustrations to demonstrate the need to control the tongue.

• Bits: These are used to make a horse go the direction one wishes – 3.3.
• Rudder: A rudder was used to direct a ship where the pilot wanted to go – 3.4.
• Small Spark: From such comes large fires – 3.5–6.
• Animals…Being Tamed: It is difficult if not impossible to tame.
• Poison: The product of an untamed tongue – 3.8.
• Spring: Water can be both bitter and sweet, but it should not be so – 3.9–10.

The concluding verses ask rhetorical questions which all summarize the need to master the tongue and how difficult it is to do so.
It is important to recognize that the tongue provides the vocalization of the thoughts that we think. We think and speak. I know, sometimes we think that the speak without thinking, but that is not necessarily so. Let’s hold on to that for a moment and move to another passage.

I am often reluctant to try to force passages into some unknown pattern to make a point. But, here’s my thought. Paul and James knew each other. It is conceivable that Paul may have had knowledge of James teaching in his book which was most likely written in late ’49 of the First Century. Some ten years later Paul writes a letter to the church at Philippi and offers them some serious advice about their thinking process. I wonder if some of what he says may have been influenced by James’ thoughts about the tongue. Just a thought.

Close to the end of Philippians Paul writes:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true (things which are fact), whatever is noble (things which inspire you to reverence and awe), whatever is right (things which promote right conduct), whatever is pure (things not defiled or contaminated), whatever is lovely (things which are pleasing and agreeable), whatever is admirable (things well spoken of)—if anything is excellent (things which are morally correct) or praiseworthy (things which you can commend God for by telling him)—think about such things

Since our thoughts are often made public by our tongues we might think of how James’ words and Paul’s words can help us to intentionally resolve to think/speak differently in 2007. Wouldn’t it be cool if we ask God to discipline us to only think about things that are factual, things that inspire us to reverence and awe, things that promote right conduct, things that are not defiled or contaminated, things that are pleasing and agreeable, things well spoken of, things that are morally correct and things that you can commend God for by telling him about it as you chat with him. Wouldn’t it be cool if we followed Paul’s exhortation: “Think (and then speak) about these things in 2007. How would that change our focus and direction for this new year?