A primary outlook that God expects of His called out ones is to consider the impact (consequences) of our sins. As we grow in God’s grace (2 Peter 3:18, His Holy Spirit) we should also consider the impact our sins can have on others. We are strongly cautioned in verses such as Proverbs 6:16 to not harbor attitudes that damage others—and yet too often we still hurt others. Here is a simple story that illustrates the damage our sins can cause to others.

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one."

That story has been told many times and with different embellishments, but the moral of the story is a powerful one. While God can forgive us for our sins (1 John 1:9), and while we can forgive one another (Matthew 6:12) for harm we do to each other, the wounds are still there aren’t they?

The world we live in is angry—and if we are not careful we can get caught up in that anger. Once anger takes root it can quickly lead to bitterness (Hebrews 12:15). God expects us to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), and as Christians we are to have the peace that God has (Colossians 3:15) and a gentle spirit (Titus 3:2). Anger is to be dealt with quickly and left in God’s hand (Ephesians 4:26-27, Romans 12:19). A Christian is to have the mind of Christ to such a great extent that we have His joy, that we have love for each other, that nothing we do is through selfishness (Philippians 2:2-5), and we take the wrongs that come from others without any thought of getting even (Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29).

Anger is perhaps the most powerful of our emotions because of the damage it can do. We must be diligent to discern our own hearts so that we can obtain mercy and love from God (Hebrews 4:11-16). Driving nails in anger will only leave scars we are sorry about later.