Lately I have been on edge. It’s like I’m tightly wound or something.

I feel like I could snap at the littlest thing. Unfortunately, my little ones have been hearing frustration pounce from my voice frequently, like a lion about to attack its prey. I don’t like how I’ve been talking or acting.

Why do I do what I don’t want to do?

I could come up with some compelling reasons for my short-fused speech:

1. Sleep deprivation
2. A busy, bustling household
3. A full summer schedule
4. Control issues
5. Sin

Let’s take look at this passage from Romans 7, verses 15-25:

¹⁵ I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. ¹⁶ And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. ¹⁸ For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

²¹ So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. ²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

I’m tired of being ugly on the inside. I want my speech to be gracious and kind, not sharp and painful with a venomous sting.

I need an internal makeover. You too?

We can find the tools needed for a fresh application in God’s Word:

1. Whatever is lovely think on these things (Phil. 4:8).
2. A gentle answer turns away wrath (Proverbs 15:1).
3. Cast all your anxiety on Him (1 Peter 5:7).
4. Do not let unwholesome talk come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29).
5. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us (1 John 1:9).

Join me over at Purposeful Faith as we learn How to Transform Ugly to Lovely…