His Mercy Toward Us
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All the emotions of man were Divinely given to him by his Creator. Each serves its proper purpose, and none are inherently evil. Yet, human emotion is to remain under the control of the properly reasoning intellect, not the other way around; otherwise, the intellect is no longer properly reasoning at all. For this cause and others, the Savior pointed out at the Fifth of Matthew that it was not just anger, but anger without a cause, that placed one in danger of the judgment. Because it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks, one’s utterances may become evidence of whether intellect is controlling emotion or emotion is controlling intellect. The word “raca” in the Hebrew vocabulary was used as an insult and was understood as “empty” or “worthless.” Though one’s anger may have been justified, the use of such expressions indicates that anger has grown out of control to a measure that is without cause and placed one in danger of facing the consequences thereof. May we be grateful for the times that the Lord’s anger has not surpassed His mercy toward us.
Written and voiced by David Hayes Prophater