“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26 -27 (BSB)
Recently, I met a friend for brunch. We had not seen each other for over a year, so I was really looking forward to getting together and catching up. She and her husband have been together now for over 20 years. Through the years, she has shared with me many of the difficulties in her marriage. The first 10 years of her marriage were full of x-wife interference, and ongoing trials with a troubled step son who had many issues. She shared how, after so many years of turmoil, she and her husband had a brief separation last fall.
While separated, God showed her that she was allowing all the built up anger and resentment from the first 10 years to carry over to this 10 years. He told her she needed to, “Clear the cache.” She needed to let all that turmoil and trauma go. She needed to stop sharing about it, stop talking about it, stop dwelling on it, and stop allowing it to be the plot line of her story. She did. Now, they are back together, and working on their relationship.
On your computer, ‘clearing your cache’ means that all the temporary files that your browser has downloaded are deleted – it gives you a “clean slate,” and forces your web browser to re-download current versions of all the files for that website. When we “Clear the cache,” in a relationship, it too, gives us a clean slate. We can then build the relationship on the current version of the other person. It allows us to get rid of our old baggage and move on together to the relationship that God has planned for us.
Her story reminded me of the scripture verse above. The New Living Translation states it this way: 26) And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27) for anger gives a foothold to the devil. Ephesians 4:26 -27
When we hold on to anger against someone, it gives the devil a foothold in our lives, as well as in that relationship.
I want to encourage you to do what the Lord is reminding us to do: ’clear the cache’ every day!
Know that we love you, we believe in you, and we are praying for you!