Sometimes a person finds himself the object of injustice and acts of reckless cruelty; othertimes the victim of irrational verbal assaults and vacuous incoherent comments. When this happens, a person feels justified in allowing dark passions to rule all the while seeking allies in a controversy that does not concern them. In this way the Enemy of all souls keeps people stirred up. Time stands still as a particular perceived injustice is lived over and over again, all the while growing more and more in importance. True truth is lost in the rewriting of history and the magnification of past words and actions. What is to be done to break this cycle of sin?

            One possible solution is silence. James 1:19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

            Another possible solution is to remember the songs sung and the prayers that have been prayed to be like Jesus.

"Have Thine own way, Lord!

Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit 'till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me."

            A person becomes more like Christ when he or she becomes the object of injustice and cruelty, acts of betrayal, vain imaginations and misinformation. By accepting the injustices of others, a Christian becomes a confessor. This is the term the early Christians used when they behaved in a biblical way to those who hated them. It meant they had bowed before the lordship of Christ. They were not yet martyrs or witnesses for Christ because they had not died and sealed their confession with blood. As a confessor any Christian might become a martyr, but that glorious title should be left for others to ascribe when and where appropriate.

            There is a third way to break the cycle of sin and that is for individuals to comprehend the disconnect between their rhetoric and the reality of the Christian faith. Surely a person can feel the hatred in their own heart as they read and reread the cruelty of the words they write and send. But the problem with dark passions, the problem with evil [injurious behavior] is that a person does not care. There is a perverse therapy in venting. Only by letting the Word of God dwell richly in the heart will the temptation to vent be arrested.