TEMPER: Lenten Devotion Day 31

Lenten Devotion Day 31

TEMPER

Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, 

whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 

Psalm 32:9

If you have ever been in a car accident you know to take a moment to give thanks to Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1660) and Austrian Chemist Rudolph Reiden (1900). What? You don't know either of them? Well, give thanks to them anyway because Prince Rupert was the first to discover that heat can strengthen glass and Reiden was the first to patent "tempered" or "toughened" glass that is used in automobiles today. I'm no expect but the basic premise is that glass that is manufactured with internal stresses caused by heat will shatter differently than regular glass. "Tempering creates balanced internal stresses which cause the glass, when broken, to crumble into small granular chunks instead of splintering into jagged shards. The granular chunks are less likely to cause injury." (Wikipedia). So, anyone saved from a face full of jagged shardS in an automobile accident knows to say "Thanks" to Prince Rupert and Seiden.

How we temper ourselves matters as much as how our automobile windows are tempered...and much for the same reason. We are reminded often in scripture that our God is slow to anger and we are called to do that same. James 1:19-20 states: "You must understand this, my beloved:let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness." 

Anger in itself is not a bad thing...Jesus was got angry at times. It is how the anger is expressed that matters. To 'fly off the handle' and 'have a quick fuse' means that we are reacting with our animalistic instincts. Anger explodes from us in much the same way glass is shattered - with sharp barbs that inflict serious damage to all in its path. We all endure stresses that make us angry but if we temper ourselves and can slow our anger down so that we can think it through, process it, find ways to let the stresses be used for good - then when our anger is expressed it is more like the shattering of tempered glass - with edges that are less sharp and less damage inflicting for those in its path.

How we 

TEMPER 

ourselves matters