Justified

Scripture: Mark 8:31-33

When was the last time you remember being really, really angry? When we look around the world or think about the hard circumstances our friends and family go through, there’s a lot to be angry about. You may have even gotten angry about something today. Anger often feels personal and there are so many reasons why we can get angry — some justified, and others . . . not so much.

Jesus and the disciples had to learn how to walk through their big feelings of love, confusion, and anger. There’s this moment between Jesus and Peter where Jesus predicted his death and Peter got mad at him. Peter took Jesus aside and rebuked him for what he had said. But when we pause to take a look at why Peter responded like this, we can see just how complicated his anger was.

Peter loved Jesus. He wanted to protect him. His feelings of anger were actually a mask for a whole bunch of other feelings — worry, pain, sadness, and more. Rather than take the time to explore his feelings, Peter responded with whatever came to the surface first, which happened to be his anger.

As you go through life, there will be so many sources of anger and frustration. Peter’s story shows why it’s so important to slow down and sit with our anger a bit. Sometimes, it’s just one part of a whole bunch of feelings mixed together. When we pause, we can see what’s happening underneath it all. So the next time you feel yourself getting angry, pause to ask God why.

Scripture: Psalms 86:5-7

You ever watch Bruce Banner get so mad that he turns into that totally rage-fueled smash monster known as The Hulk and thought, “same?” You probably don’t turn big and green (if you do, please call a doctor!), but it’s easy to relate to the idea of losing control when you get mad.

We don’t exactly decide to get angry. It’s just something that happens, like the hiccups. Sometimes there’s a reason, like getting our feelings hurt or being treated unfairly. Sometimes, we don’t even know what exactly is making us upset — we just know we’re angry. And that anger can feel completely uncontrollable — again, just like the hiccups.

But unlike getting the hiccups, all of us can take a minute to understand what’s making us angry and why. It might mean slowing down and really taking some time to look inside and examine why we’re feeling the way we are. And that’s not easy to do.

Fortunately, God promises to help us when we need it, and we all need a little help with our anger. Even back in Biblical times, people spent a lot of time praying for God’s help with the stuff that just seemed too big for them to handle on their own. The Bible is full of stories of God helping them do just that.

In Psalm 86:5–7, the psalmist prays because he knows God will listen. And when you’re feeling out of control, someone who listens might just be exactly what you need.

Scripture: Psalms 139:23-24

You know, the actual lightbulb in a stoplight isn’t actually red. The lightbulb is white — it’s the red lens over it that makes the stoplight look red to our eyes. If you take that red lens away, you see the lightbulb’s actual color. 

That’s kind of how anger works a lot of the time. A lot of us have an “angry lens” that makes our emotions look like anger on the outside. But if you take that lens away, the real emotion might be a totally different hue. 

Maybe we’re actually feeling scared. Maybe we’re feeling guilty. Maybe we’re ashamed. These are really personal, vulnerable things to be feeling and we don’t have a lot of practice in sharing them with other people. So, instead, we put on our “angry lens” and fool everyone around us into thinking we’re just plain mad. Sometimes, we can even fool ourselves. 

It’s important to understand the real emotions behind our anger if we want to get better at controlling it . . . but it’s not easy. That’s why so many people in the Bible turned to God for help. They knew that God understands what’s going on in our hearts, even when nobody else does — not even ourselves! 

So next time you’re angry, Psalms has some great advice on how to reach out to God for help in figuring out what’s really going on. Once you know what’s going on, you’ll have a better idea of what to do about it.

Scripture: Hebrews 4:12

A lot of times, anger is what some experts call a “mask emotion.” Just like a mask hides Spider-Man’s true identity, we mask emotions to hide what we’re actually feeling. For example, we don’t want anyone to know we’re feeling scared or guilty, so we use anger as a mask emotion to keep people from getting too close. It can feel like our anger is protecting us, but it’s actually just pushing everyone else away.

Well, almost everyone else . . . God’s love for us remains a constant for us all, no matter what’s going on with our emotions. More than that, God can help us examine what’s happening with our emotional lives. When you ask God for help removing your mask, you can get a better idea of what’s going on underneath and what to do about it.

Are you using anger to mask feelings of fear and anxiety? God can help you conquer those fears and give you wisdom for how to manage them. Are you using anger to mask feelings of guilt about something you’ve done? God will forgive you, no matter what.

One of the best ways to seek God’s help with this stuff is by turning to the Bible, which has lots of stories about how God has helped other people going through the exact same stuff. The Bible makes it clear that God’s words can sort through all our complicated feelings, and help us figure out which parts are real, and which are masking our true feelings.

Scripture: James 1:19-20

In the X-Men, Wolverine is an angry guy who has to constantly fight to keep his anger issues under control. When he’s in control of his anger, he’s a brave and loyal hero. But when he loses control, he can be a danger to everyone around him, even the people he cares about most.

A lot of us are kind of like Wolverine — we have some anger issues. The good news is, it’s natural to be mad sometimes. There’s nothing actually wrong with being angry. It’s what you do with your anger that can have a negative impact. When you’re in control of your anger, you can still be a good friend and a healthy person for others to be around. It’s when you lose control of your anger that bad things can start happening.

That’s why it’s important to learn how to control your anger, and that takes time. It’s like learning to play the piano or do a cartwheel. You have to practice. At first, you might not be very good at it. Even after a lot of effort, you still might make some mistakes now and then. But over time, if you keep at it, you’ll see results.

The Bible suggests being slow to anger and quick to listen. That means to try and take time to really talk to others before we get mad at them. You might have to practice, but if it’s good enough for Wolverine, it’s good enough for us too.

Scripture: Isaiah 40:28-31

Oh great . . . You just lost control of your temper again. You’ve been working so hard to keep calm when you’re feeling mad. But it happened. You snapped. Maybe you said or did something that hurt a friend or a family member. Maybe you got so mad you did something you know you shouldn’t have. But whatever happened, you’re feeling guilty. How long are you going to have to be dealing with this temper?

First thing’s first — never fear. God promises to stick with you no matter what. You haven’t done anything so bad that you can’t be forgiven. God’s got more than enough grace to last your whole entire life, no matter how many mistakes you make along the way.

The Book of Isaiah was written by the prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel, who had messed up a lot. Isaiah wanted them to know that God, no matter how many times they blew it, was ready to give them another chance. God is ready to give all of us as many chances as we need. That’s just how much God loves us.

So next time you lose your temper, try not to be too hard on yourself. God not only promises to forgive us when we blow it, but also to help us do a better job in the future when we rely on those promises. And we can rely on them for as long as it takes.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:26

Great job this week! Today, let’s try something a little different. Let’s see if you can memorize a verse by the time you get to the end of this reading plan. Read this verse a few times, start trying to memorize it, and spend today reflecting on what it says and why it matters.

Memorize this Scripture by repeating the first three words three times. Then, add three more words and repeat them three more times. Repeat this process until you can say the entire passage without looking three times.

Scripture: John 2:13-22

If you were in a comic, what would your power be? The idea of having a superpower is incredible, but those powers alone don’t rid the world of evil. Sometimes, when we try to help, we might end up hurting someone. When we’re angry at injustice in the world, it’s natural to want to respond, but if we’re not careful, we can accidentally cause a supervillain level of damage in the process. 

In John 2, there’s a story about a time when Jesus got angry. All these people went to Jerusalem to remember the way God liberated their ancestors from slavery in Egypt. Unfortunately, people used this gathering as a chance to exploit the travelers and visitors. When Jesus saw what they were doing, he got really, really upset, and he took action by clearing out all these vendors. His actions tell us how much he cares about looking out for the weak and the poor and what it means to stand up for people who are being harmed. 

Jesus saw injustice and he chose to respond. He acted to shield and protect those who didn’t have social status or power. Jesus shows us that when we have justifiedanger, we are moved towards action that brings people into right relationship with God and with others. The next time you feel angry, look to what Jesus did here in the temple as you figure out how to respond. When we’re angry, Jesus shows us how to respond.

Scripture: Proverbs 6:16-19

Some people seem to think God is sort of like an angry Santa Clause, who comes down from Heaven to get us in trouble anytime we break the rules. Thinking that way can end up making us paranoid about getting on God’s bad side. You stop thinking of God as a source of love and peace, and start thinking of God as a giant referee in the sky, judging you on a game you didn’t even know you were playing.

You have to wonder if people in Bible times felt the same way, because in the Book of Proverbs, the writer actually gives a list of all the things that make God angry. It’s not a long list. Proverbs 6:16—19 says that there are “six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable,” and then lists them out.

In other words, yes, there are things that make God angry. If you look over the list, you’ll probably see a running theme: God gets angry when innocent people get hurt or oppressed people are taken advantage of. God gets angry when people lie. God gets angry when people stir up trouble among friends.

When you take a look at the list of things that make God mad in Proverbs, you can see that they’re not unreasonable. God isn’t some sort of bad-tempered hothead looking for any excuse to fly off the handle up in Heaven. In fact, a lot of the things that make God mad are probably the same sort of things that make you mad.

Scripture: Philippians 2:3-4

Wonder Woman is one of the most loving of all the superheroes. She’s a friend to anyone who needs one, and believes there’s something worth fighting for in the heart of every person. Almost nothing makes her angry — until it does. If someone tries to hurt the innocent or abuse their power for selfish reasons, look out! You don’t want to be on Wonder Woman’s bad side.

The thing is, Wonder Woman has a strong set of personal values that are important to her. And she gets mad when someone violates those personal values. She doesn’t get mad for no reason. She has a strong sense of right and wrong, and gets angry when people do wrong.

You probably feel the same way. Sure, we all lose our temper sometimes. But at our best, we tend to get mad at things that are worth getting mad about. Maybe it’s when we’re not treated fairly, or when a friend gets taken advantage of. It could be when someone gets away with doing something bad, or maybe a whole group of people is oppressed. These things might make us feel scared, sad, or even just powerless to make a difference . . . but above all, they make us mad.

Having a list of principles and a clear sense of right and wrong can be helpful for determining why you’re feeling angry. Fortunately, the Bible has a lot of wisdom about what sort of principles are worth having, and can help us know how we should feel when those principles are violated.

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-40

According to the United Nations, around 18.5 million men, women, and children have been kicked out of their homes in Latin America and the Caribbean. Some of them have had to flee their homes because of war and violence, others because they were being persecuted for their race or their religion. Some fled to protect their children from being sold into slavery, and others because climate change had gotten so bad in their area that they couldn’t even live there anymore.

When people leave their homes because they can’t stay there anymore, it’s called being displaced. There have never been more displaced people in the world than there are right now. More than 100 million people are currently displaced — that’s roughly one out of every 78 people in the world. Some of them try to move to new countries and find a home there. Some move to vast refugee camps.

In Matthew 25:31–40, Jesus says that whenever the disciples help the poor, feed the hungry, or visit people in jail, they’re actually taking care of him. In some way we don’t totally understand, Jesus literally identifies with what he calls “the least of these” — the people most in need.

So when we hear stories about people facing injustice, it’s important to remember that Jesus is right there with them — among them. He’s on their side. And if the millions of people being displaced makes you mad, know that you’re also getting mad on behalf of Jesus.

Scripture: Isaiah 1:17

When Bruce Wayne witnessed a tragic event as a kid, you know what happened next . . . He took all his heartbreak and anger and devoted his life to making sure that nobody else ever had to go through what he went through. When he grew up, he became Batman, and used all that anger to fight against anyone who would try to hurt other innocent people.

That’s the thing about anger. It’s raw material, like gasoline. And just like gasoline, you can use it to start a fire, or you can use it to make an engine run. Anger isn’t good or bad in and of itself. It’s just a feeling. It’s what you do with that anger that’s good or bad. Batman uses his anger to protect others. What are you going to do with your anger?

The Bible is full of wisdom about how important it is to defend the oppressed and protect the innocent. There’s a lot of writing about widows and orphans — people who are going to have a much harder time getting justice than others — and how much God wants people to defend them.

One reason the Bible talks about this so much is that it’s unfortunately pretty common for widows, orphans, the poor, and other people who are especially likely to be oppressed by others. It’s infuriating to hear these stories. But the good news is, these stories make God angry, too. And as Christians, we can use that anger to motivate us to help them.

Scripture: Proverbs 31:8-9

When you’re scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, or wherever you get your news, you’re likely to come across dozens of stories of injustice happening all over the world. War. Famine. Racism. Sexism. You name it, it’s probably happening out there. All too often, it’s happening much closer to home than you’d like.

It can be discouraging to see so many stories like this . . . You can start to feel helpless. These are all big problems. It’s hard to imagine how you can make a difference in any of them, let alone all of them. It can be so discouraging that we don’t even try to make a difference.

That’s the thing . . . When everyone is too discouraged to make a change, the only thing that’s going to happen is nothing at all. And that’s not what the Bible asks from people who care about injustice in the world. You’re right to be angry about the bad things happening around you. What matters most is what you do with that anger.

It’s true that you can’t change everything, but you might be able to change something. Pick an issue, large or small, and start to really educate yourself about it. Find other people and organizations who are working on it in your area and connect with them! You might be surprised at how much can be done when you take the initiative to get involved.

There’s a lot of bad happening in the world, but the only way that will change is if we try to do good instead.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:26

Great job this week! Today, let’s try something a little different. Let’s see if you can memorize a verse by the time you get to the end of this reading plan. Read this verse a few times, start trying to memorize it, and spend today reflecting on what it says and why it matters.

Sometimes ideas are easier to remember if we connect them to something physical. This week, get a piece of paper and pen and write the passage repeatedly until you can do it from memory.

Scripture: John 3:1-17

Remember the last time you were hurt? How did you want to respond? Even though we tend to hurt others often, there’s always this inner desire to get even or, worse, to escalate things even further. Depending on what happens, we might think “Well, I’ll show you!” before we do something drastic. But Jesus shows us things don’t have to be like that. There’s another way for us to live.

We may think of Jesus as a guy who got along with everyone — especially since he was God’s son and all — but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Jesus had lots of enemies, and a lot of people with power and religious authority didn’t like what he was teaching. Eventually, their anger started to turn into something much more sinister as they started to plan Jesus’ murder. But in a conversation with one of these religious leaders, Jesus said he didn’t come to condemn the world, but to rescue it.

Even though these people were allowing their anger to escalate the situation, Jesus didn’t match their energy. As they grew more and more angry, Jesus became more and more gracious. He offered them grace and kindness, and he offers us the same things today. Jesus shows us it’s possible for our anger to lead us to grace. When we ask God to help us, repeat God’s words about grace, and pray authentically, we allow ourselves to remember the grace God has shown to us. Then, even when you’re angry, you can still show grace.

Scripture: 1 John 4:20-21

When the Black Panther finally came face to face with the man who had killed his father, he wanted to take revenge. Who wouldn’t? When someone hurts us or treats us unfairly, it’s only natural to want to make them feel the same way. In fact, that can start to feel like the only way we’ll ever be able to get over what they’ve done: to make them feel the same way we felt.

But in the movie Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther eventually chooses to let his hatred go. “Vengeance has consumed you,” he tells his father’s killer. “I am done letting it consume me.”

We all get angry. A lot of times, we have a good reason to be angry. Maybe we’re mad at a friend for betraying us. Maybe we’re mad at a teacher for treating us unfairly. These sorts of things do happen, and it’s only natural to be angry about them. The Bible warns us against letting that anger turn into hatred.

There’s a difference . . . Anger is how you feel when something bad happens. Hatred is wanting something bad to happen to someone else.

When you feel your anger start to escalate, take a few minutes to slow down. Remember, whatever your own personal feelings about someone are, God loves them and wants you to love them too. Once you start hating, it’s difficult to stop — but with God’s help, we don’t have to let it consume us.

Scripture: Matthew 5:43-48

Batman and the Joker. Spider-Man and the Green Goblin. The Avengers and Thanos. Pretty much every superhero has some sort of enemy. This is the guy who causes their biggest and most frequent problems. Maybe they’re trying to take over the world. Maybe they’re trying to kidnap the President. Maybe they just like watching the world burn. Whatever it is, dealing with enemies can be the hardest part of being a superhero.

And they’re not easy for the rest of us, either! Your enemies probably don’t dress in spandex or rob any banks, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Your enemy might be someone extra annoying, or might be someone who’s a real bully. Your enemy might even be someone who’s really hurt you. But whoever it is, the Bible has something to say about how we’re supposed to treat our enemies.

While it might be fun to imagine punching our enemies in the mouth like Batman would, that’s not really how the Bible wants us to think about our enemies. In fact, Jesus says that we’re supposed to love and even pray for our enemies.

This is one of the hardest commandments in the Bible. We don’t want to love our enemies. If we did, they wouldn’t be our enemies!

Learning how to do it takes time, and it probably starts with really figuring out who our enemies are. Once we do that, we can start praying for God’s help in how we treat them.

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

One of the reasons it’s so hard to love our enemies is we barely even know what that means. What does it actually look like to “love” an enemy? Does that just mean thinking nice thoughts about them? Writing nice notes? Sending presents?

Good news — the Bible provides us with a little cheat sheet of what love actually looks like. Today’s Scripture reading comes from 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, and it really breaks down what love is supposed to look like. When you look through the list that Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, you see that love isn’t just warm fuzzies. It’s an active, ongoing thing. It takes patience and commitment.

None of this makes loving our enemies much easier, but it does at least give us some basic guidelines about what we should be striving for. More importantly, it helps us have a better understanding of how to pray. On our own strength, we probably don’t have what it takes to love our enemies the way Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians. With God’s help, anything is possible.

So when you start feeling your anger toward an enemy turn into hatred, think about this list. Ask God to help protect you from hatred, and for the ability to instead reach for patience, kindness, and the other things described in this chapter on love. Once you know what love actually looks like, it’s easier to put a plan together for how you’re going to love your enemies the way God calls us to.

Scripture: Proverbs 3:5-6

You know the Marvel superhero Daredevil? He’s the guy who is a lawyer during the day, but works as a superhero by night. As a lawyer, he started to feel like maybe the law didn’t work as hard or fast as it should have to put bad guys away, so he started taking matters into his own hands.

It’s easy to sympathize with Daredevil. He wants to see justice served, especially when people are getting away with doing wrong. In our world, it does seem like justice isn’t always as fast or as accurate as we’d like it to be. We want to see people held accountable for doing wrong, but all too often, they get away with it. When that happens, it’s easy to start hating them.

These feelings are normal. But when we’re feeling angry about the injustice in the world, it can be helpful to remember that God’s angry about injustice too. And instead of calling us to take matters into our own hands like Daredevil, the Bible calls us to trust in God’s perfect timing.

Instead of trusting in your own sense of right and wrong, we can be sure that God has an ultimate plan for all the injustice in the world. And we can rest assured that our part in that plan is simple — trust God.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:31-32

Anger clouds your brain. The madder you get, the harder it is to think straight. We don’t grow big and green, but we can feel a lot like The Hulk — totally out of control, and ready to smash everything in sight. Our anger turns into hatred, and our hatred becomes a destructive force for everyone around us.

The secret to controlling your anger so that it doesn’t become hatred isn’t just to “stop being angry.” It’s to learn how to love the people you’re angry at, even when you feel like lashing out instead. This isn’t easy to learn how to do. It never has been. The people who wrote the Bible knew the struggle, too.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote down a long list of what people needed to stop doing when they got mad. He told them to “get rid of” things like bitterness, fighting, and talking about each other behind their backs. Instead, Paul told them the same thing he tells us: Forgive each other, like Jesus forgave us.

Forgiving someone who’s made you mad can be just a little bit easier when you remember that Jesus forgave you. That example set the tone for how we should all act when someone has hurt us. It’s easy to reach for hatred and bitterness. It’s hard to reach for forgiveness and love. But with God’s help, you can show grace even in the midst of your anger.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:26

Great job this week! Today, let’s try something a little different. Let’s see if you can memorize a verse by the time you get to the end of this reading plan. Read this verse a few times, start trying to memorize it, and spend today reflecting on what it says and why it matters.

See how much of the passage you have remembered from the last two weeks. Repeat it until you can say it without looking. Take a ten-minute walk, and repeat the passage to yourself for the entire walk.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:22-27

Every hero, no matter how great they are, gets tired. They’re tired of people trying to hurt their loved ones or tired of protecting the same city on a never-ending loop. They might even begin to lose control and start using their powers to get revenge. Whenever this happens, they end up looking more like the villains they want to defeat than the heroes they’re called to be. 

This isn’t just a problem for superheroes in comic books. We do this, too. Sometimes, we hurt others after being hurt ourselves. We feel like we want others to experience the same pain we’ve felt, and then we’ll give into those feelings. But we’ve seen enough comic book movies to know acting out of our own hurt never leads to a happy ending. 

In a letter to the Ephesians, Paul says something incredible — in your anger, do not sin. Paul recognizes and validates the thing we all feel — anger — but then he goes a step further by sharing how we should respond. He is speaking from experience as a guy whose anger once led him to horrific choices in persecuting the first Christians. 

When you’re angry, you’re allowed to feel those things, but think about how you might respond. Will your actions hurt someone? Will they escalate what’s happening? If so, consider choosing something different. Try to act in a way that respects the relationship and work to repair or restore what you have. When you’re angry, don’t get hurtful.

Scripture: Romans 12:17-21

When we get hit, we hit back. When someone takes something from us, we take something from them. If someone says something mean, we say something meaner.

We don’t even really have to think or plan to do these things. It’s just natural. It’s how we even the scales. It feels like the only way to survive in the world, right? We can’t just let people walk all over us. So when we get mad, we get even. Then they try to get even with us, and the endless cycle starts all over again.

So when God tells us not to take revenge, it can feel almost impossible to obey. What are we supposed to do instead? How is it possible to live in the world without making sure other people pay when they’ve hurt us?

The only way it’s possible is by trusting that what God says in today’s Scripture is true — that vengeance belongs to God. The reason we don’t need to get even now is because God is going to handle that. When we try to take the things that belong to God into our own hands, things are bound to get messy.

So what are we supposed to do when someone hurts us? That’s where things get really difficult. The Bible says we’re supposed to look after our enemies. Loving the people who hurt you is definitely difficult, but it’s also the only way we can really break the endless cycle of revenge.

Scripture: Proverbs 15:1-2

In DC Comics, The Flash is called “the fastest man alive.” Thanks to a science experiment that went wrong, The Flash can run as fast as lightning. When he really gets going, he can run around the entire globe several times a second. This is a pretty useful superpower — it’s pretty hard for bad guys to run away from a guy who’s faster than light! — But it’s got some downsides. Sometimes, we all need to take it slow. 

Think about it . . . sometimes, the first thing you think of isn’t the best idea you could come up with. Sometimes when you take a minute to slow down and really process a complicated situation, you think of a better solution than you would have if you’d just rushed ahead and went with your gut. In fact, it’s safe to say that a lot of the times when you feel like you most need to hurry up are the exact times you should probably take a second and make sure you’re doing the right thing. 

This is how the Bible teaches us to think about what we do when we’re angry. When you’re mad, you’re not necessarily thinking clearly. That means that the first thing you think of to do when you lose your temper may not be the wisest thing you can think of to do. That’s why God tells us to be slow to anger. 

What are some ways you can think of to slow down when you get mad?

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 10:13

When Bruce Banner gets mad, he turns into The Hulk. He can’t help it. His emotions start to run wild, and he turns into a big, green monster who smashes anyone and anything around him. At least, that’s how it was for a long time.

After a while, Bruce realized that with practice, time, and research, he could control his anger. Now, when he turns into The Hulk, he’s able to stay in charge, think clearly and even talk normally. It wasn’t easy, but The Hulk got his temper under control.

A lot of us could use that sort of transformation — a way to make sure we don’t hurt people when we get upset. We don’t want to lash out or say hurtful things when we get mad, but it feels impossible to stay in control when our temper runs away from us. What can we do?

God makes a promise in today’s Scripture reading that’s important to remember: you’re never tempted beyond what you can handle. It is possible to stay in control when you get mad. There is always a way out of whatever temptation you’re facing.

Now is a great time to start practicing how you’re going to stay in control the next time you get angry. It’s a lot easier to come up with a plan now, when you’re level headed, than it will be later. Ask God for help in putting together a strategy for dealing with your anger. You won’t be disappointed with the results.

Scripture: 1 Peter 3:8-11

So, it happened again. You lost your cool. You said something you didn’t mean to. You did something you didn’t want to. Whoever was impacted by your anger, you hurt them. Why can it be so hard to stop hurting others when you get mad?

First of all, remember this: You’re already forgiven. You can’t do anything that would separate you from the love of God. Got it?

Second of all, remember that it’s never too late to make things right with whoever you hurt. Today’s Scripture reading talks about pursuing peace. Part of pursuing peace means that when you break a bond, you do whatever it takes to put it back together.

Pursuing peace isn’t much fun. It might mean admitting you were wrong. It might mean making it up to someone you hurt. It might even mean asking someone you don’t like very much to forgive you.

All of these things are pretty hard, but you know what’s even harder? Living in a world where you never make things right with the people who you hurt. If you never take the time to repair friendships that get broken, sooner or later, you’ll run out of friends.

So don’t spend too much time beating yourself up over the mistakes you made. Instead, spend that time trying to make things right with the people you hurt. That’s what pursuing peace is all about.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:26-27

Before Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben died, he told Peter that “with great power, there must also come great responsibility.” That’s the motto Spider-Man holds to when he’s swinging around the city. For him, his powers aren’t just a cool way to climb up walls. They mean he’s responsible for what he does with them. He didn’t ask get these spider powers . . . but now that he has them, he has to make sure he uses them wisely.

That’s kind of what the Bible says being angry is like. Anger can be powerful, and that power can be used a lot of ways. You can use it to hurt others and tear them down. Or, you can use it to motivate you to do good. It’s a big responsibility!

In today’s Bible reading, God says, in your anger, do not sin. In fact, we’re told to not let the sun go down on our anger. That means, when at all possible, try to resolve whatever’s making you angry before you go to bed. Sounds like a pretty big responsibility . . . but think of it this way: Would Spider-Man go to bed knowing somebody out there was in danger?

So next time you get mad, remember the responsibility you’ve been given. Try to find a way to use this power for good, not for evil. And if you’re struggling, remember God is ready to help you if you ask.

Scripture: Ephesians 4:26

Great job this week! Today, let’s revisit that verse you’re trying to memorize. How’s it going? Today, read this verse a few times, recite it, continue trying to memorize it, and spend today reflecting on what it says and why it matters.

See how much of the passage you remember from the previous three weeks. If you don’t have it memorized yet, repeat it until you can do so without looking. Then, text that passage from memory to three friends. Include a reason why this passage has been meaningful to you this month.