Anger

Colossians 3 Therefore if you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, sharing in His resurrection from the dead], keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your mind andkeep focused habitually on the things above [the heavenly things], not on things that are on the earth [which have only temporal value]. ³ For you died [to this world], and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ When Christ, who is our life, ^[a]appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

⁵ So put to death and deprive of power the evil longings of your earthly body [with its sensual, self-centered instincts] immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and greed, which is [a kind of] idolatry [because it replaces your devotion to God]. ⁶ Because of these [sinful] things the [divine] wrath of God is coming ^[b]on the sons of disobedience [those who fail to listen and who routinely and obstinately disregard God’s precepts], ⁷ and in these [sinful things] you also once walked, when you were habitually living in them [without the knowledge of Christ]. ⁸ But now rid yourselves [completely] of all these things: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene (abusive, filthy, vulgar) language from your mouth. ⁹ Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices, ¹⁰ and have put on the new [spiritual] self who is being continually renewed in true knowledge in the image of Him who created the new self— ¹¹ a renewal in which there is no [distinction between] Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, [nor between nations whether] ^[c]barbarian or ^[d]Scythian, [nor in status whether] slave or free, but Christ is all, and in all [so believers are equal in Christ, without distinction].

¹² So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; ¹³ bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive. ¹⁴ Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others]. ¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise]. To this peace indeed you were called as members in one body [of believers]. And be thankful [to God always]. ¹⁶ Let the [spoken] word of Christ have its home within you [dwelling in your heart and mind—permeating every aspect of your being] as you teach [spiritual things] and admonish and train one another with all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ Whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus [and in dependence on Him], giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Seek (CRAVE) what is above.

Set your mind (SET YOUR AFFECTION) on what is above.

You have died, and your life is hidden (CONCEALED) with the Messiah in God.

When the Messiah, who is your life (GIVES YOU LIFE) is revealed (MADE MANIFEST in you), then you will also be revealed (MADE MANIFEST) with Him in glory (ALL THE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD, THE FULLNESS OF GOD).

Put to death:

• Sexual immorality – PORNEIA – sexual conduct outside of God’s design (husband and wife)
• Impurity – impurity (lustful, profligate living; uncleanness, such as tenants of a house keeping the house in good condition),
• Lust – PATHOS – suffering a passionate desire, inordinate affection or lust.  Too much of any passion (desire or emotion), good or evil, is not good.  It causes us to focus more and more on what we want, and we become more and more selfish.
• Evil desire – a worthless, evil longing for what is forbidden.  Evil here means THE LACK IN A PERSON OR THING OF THOSE QUALITIES WHICH SHOULD BE POSSESSED. In character, thinking, feeling or acting.
• Greed (idolatry) – THE VERB: TO GAIN, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF, WRONG, DEFRAUD. a desire to get more for yourself, always used in a bad sense.  Also a GIFT WHICH BETRAYS THE GIVER’S UNWILLINGNESS TO BESTOW WHAT IS DUE

The one thing these all have in common are GETTING FOR ONESELF.  

• Lust is taking from others what you think is best for you.  
• It is the opposite of LOVE, which is giving of yourself for what is best for the other person.
• Love needs to grow in knowledge and discernment, so we know what God thinks is best for that person, not us.  

You once walked in these things, but you must put them away, along with the following things.  These items are all results of a person NOT GETTING FOR HIMSELF WHAT HE WANTS:

1. Anger – STRONGEST of all passions, a settled or abiding condition of mind, frequently with a view to taking revenge.  It is not sudden, but grows and lasts for a while. It is an inward condition.
2. Wrath – FIERCE INDIGNATION, a more agitated condition of feelings than anger, an outburst of wrath from inward indignation, it is more sudden in expression, it is an active emotion.  Normally, it quickly blazes up and quickly subsides.
3. Malice – Badness, evilness, wickedness, the evil of trouble, affliction. Vicious character.  AFFLICTING EVIL ON OTHERS PURPOSEFULLY.  A related word, Malignity, means having an evil disposition that tends to put the worst construction on everything, in other words, they see the worst in others and attribute bad intentions to what they do and say.
4. Slander – BLASPHEMIA – Evil speaking about others, railing against them. It is trying to injure another person’s good name and reputation. That word, when used against God, is saying that who God is and what God is doing is evil and not good.  It is the same way when you speak about others saying that they are evil when they are not.  The verb is to rail about someone, reviling them, spewing everything you think they have done wrong, like those who railed at Christ on the cross.  Speaking hatefully about someone else. An oral outbreak of the evil dispositions mentioned.
5. Filthy/Abusive/ Foul language – The word is “foul,” and the context here seems to show that it refers to grossness of insult and abuse. The opposite of speech that would bring glory to God.  When do we use foul language the most?  When we are angry. And we normally address it to or about someone else.

Do not lie to one another

Put on:

• Compassion – emotions that show the manifestations of pity.  It is the way a mother feels about her unborn child. She loves it unconditionally. She cares for it, because it is helpless.
• Kindness – characterized by moral goodness put into action in grace, tenderness and compassion.  NOT EXPRESSING ITSELF IN INDIGNATION against sin.  Doing what is best for another person with tenderness and care for the other person.
• Humility – Modesty, lowliness of mind, thinking of others more highly than yourself rather than thinking your way of thinking is the only way and everyone else is wrong.
• Gentleness – Mildness, meekness, implying humility.
• Patience – makkrothymia – longsuffering with a person, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, SLOWNESS IN AVENGING WRONGS (as opposed to anger and its consequences). This is the patience God has toward us when we sin over and over again.  As opposed to Huppomonia, bearing under the weight of circumstances.  
• Accepting one another – to hold one’s self erect and firm to bear or suffer with someone, endure them.
• Forgiving – pardoning, rescuing, delivering, FREELY GIVING/GRANTING, to show one’s self gracious, kind, benevolent. Graciously to restore one to another, to preserve a person in peril.  IF ANYONE HAS A COMPLAINT:  blame, by implication, a fault, quarrel.
• ABOVE ALL, put on LOVE, the perfect bond of UNITY (a ligament in the body connecting to parts, that which is bound together, a bundle).
• Let the peace of the Messiah control your hearts – TO JOIN to SET AT ONE AGAIN, which results in harmony, security, prosperity, tranquility.  CONTROL YOUR HEARTS – arbitrate, govern, umpire
• Be thankful.
• Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you
• Teach –
• Admonish –
• Gratitude –
• Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus
• Giving thanks.

Ephesians 5:1-20

The only way to continually put on love as the perfect bond of unity is to be filled to overflowing with God’s love.  The only way to make that happen is to spend time alone with Him letting Him love on you.  When you are in love and have just spent time with your lover, no one and nothing can bother you.  It is the same way when you are confident and feel completed by God’s personal love, kindness and compassion for you.