Are You Angry, or Are You Justifying Your Flesh?

This morning I woke up angry. I woke up bitter.

Immediately, my flesh started giving me reasons why.

This is why you're angry.
This is why you're frustrated.
Remember what happened yesterday?
Remember what they said?
You have every right to feel this way.

But as I sat there and began to rebuke that anger and bitterness, I had to ask myself a difficult question:

Are these really the reasons I'm angry, or am I looking for reasons to justify what my flesh already wants to feel?

Yes, some things happened yesterday and the day before that frustrated me. But when I really looked at them, they were minor. They weren't worth carrying into a brand-new day.

Yet my flesh wanted to pick them back up.

That's when I was reminded that anger and bitterness are not the fruit God desires to produce in me.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” — Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV

Notice what's not on that list: bitterness.

So this morning I made a choice.

I rebuke the anger.
I rebuke the bitterness.
I refuse to dig through yesterday looking for excuses to justify what my flesh wants me to feel today.

That doesn't mean we're never allowed to be angry, hurt, disappointed, or frustrated. Those emotions are real. But we need to ask ourselves whether we're dealing with something that genuinely needs to be addressed—or feeding something that needs to be surrendered.

“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” — Galatians 5:16 NKJV

So ask yourself this morning:

What are you carrying in your heart that your flesh keeps trying to justify?

Is there something from yesterday that you're allowing to control today?

Maybe it's time to stop rehearsing the reasons you're angry and start remembering who God has called you to be.

Yesterday happened.

Learn from it. Deal with what needs to be dealt with. Forgive where forgiveness is needed.

But don't give yesterday permission to steal the joy God has given you for today.

Walk in the Spirit today.

— Rev. Carlos Figueroa
TheFreeBible.org