Primed and Ready

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:30-32 ESV). Melvin McDonald served in the Canadian Navy during World War II. One Monday, the 79-year-old McDonald and his wife showed up at the front desk at police headquarters in Winnipeg. His opening line to the police officer that offered to assist him was, "I got a grenade." He wasn't making a threat, mind you, just stating a fact. With that, he took a hand grenade out of a brown paper bag and gave it to the officer. The shocked constable kept his head. He did, however, call the bomb squad immediately. Then things really started to happen. Most of the main floor of the Public Safety Building was evacuated, the fire department was put on alert, and the bomb squad showed up with all its sophisticated paraphernalia. The grenade was still primed and ready with explosive. Its fuse was intact. "I've had it in the house all these years," the veteran said. "I used to have it on a stand." His nephew had suggested it ought to be turned over to the police. An embarrassed McDonald apologized for all the commotion he caused. It was only a keepsake from a training exercise in Scotland in the early 1940’s. Many people today are carrying around a “grenade” which is primed and ready also. It’s not a physical explosive, but one just as deadly. That explosive would be unresolved conflict and anger. One of the unhealthiest ways to live is by burying and denying unresolved anger, hurts, or bitterness from the past. These are the supercharged, repressed, negative emotions that, like an old live hand grenade, when triggered can cause an emotional explosion and severely damage or destroy close relationships. On the other hand, if these emotions stay buried and get triggered, they can cause an implosion and destroy a person's health and well being. Like all of God's directives, it is not without good reason that the Bible advises us to get rid of these destructive emotions. And we don't get rid of them by burying them and denying their existence. It is imperative that they are recognized, expressed in creative rather than destructive ways, and resolved. The apostle Paul has a solution to getting rid of such conflict in our reading this morning. He uses three words. We are to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving. Kindness is a graciousness that is rooted in a tender heart, someone who may truly empathize with another’s plight. These two lead us to forgiveness. Give it a try.