The freedom we need

 

Monday, January 25, 2021

Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Be silent, and come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, throwing him into convulsions and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ (Mark 1:25-27)

It is hard to know what to make of exorcism stories in the Bible. Spirit possession seems to belong to a pre-scientific age when people didn’t have more reasonable explanations for certain strange phenomena. But maybe not.

Perhaps I have watched too many hours of news in recent weeks, but it seems we need an exorcism. A variety of demons grip the hearts and enslave the minds of modern Americans, but anger is the most obvious.

And yes, anger is a demon, not merely a psychological state, when it blinds you to the needs, pains and humanity of other human souls. It is a demon when it builds walls that prevent truths (often obvious) you choose not to acknowledge lest they penetrate your mind and change your heart.

An old saying suggests holding angry grudges is like drinking poison and expecting your opponent to die. Hold onto anger, savor and feed it, and it sours into a bitterness that colors everything you see and feel, killing your soul before ushering you to a grave earlier than otherwise necessary.

Like all demons, anger seeks to enslave us so that it colors our vision, preventing us from feeling, receiving and sharing the Love for which we are created, the Love who completes our souls.

The road to freedom involves introspection, noting when and how anger rises within, seeking its real source in our hearts and histories, realizing that it usually flows from old hurts, unhealed wounds and threatened fearful corners of our hearts. Introspection allows us to understand and begin to resist.  

But this is not enough. Only prayer finally frees and heals us: consciously placing ourselves in the presence of the Love God is, opening the heart, becoming vulnerable, speaking our hurts and angry passions.

Prayer, first and foremost, is placing ourselves in the presence of our loving God who is always present. It is opening the heart, becoming accessible to the Love who is always there, eager to release us from the anger that grips the heart. In prayer, the Love God is pours into us, or arises within us by the Spirit, or both. It is hard to describe.

What is certain is that the demon of anger flees in disarray in Love’s presence. Certainly, that anger may return. It didn’t get there in a day and will refuse to die easily. But the Love who frees us is always there to speak the word and free our hearts.

Pr. David L. Miller