What should we Kenyans do?

I was reading this passage this morning and my mind started a tour of our country and I thought about myself as a christian and a leader and also those in leadership. I now send it to you and ask you to reflect on it and ask yourself if it applies to you. Ephesians 4:25-32

25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

I do not know how many of us would stand and say that indeed we have off falsehood and that we speak the truthfully to our neighbours. Speaking truthfully to our neighbours goes beyond the casual dialogues we hold with our colleagues to all that we write in this forum. Do we write from the abundance of truth in our hearts or we just write irrespective of whether it is true or not? We should never forget as Kenyans of all walks of life we need each other. Write this because I followed the spat between two of our leaders in parliament who argued about praying for the Ocampo four or the IDPS. My question to us is this: are this prayers rooted in truth? Are we telling the people who come to these prayer rallies the truth? These questions go to my fellow church leaders and Christians.

In the following verse 26

"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
God in His sovereignty guards us and indeed in His own image He created us. Therefore He understands and knows that we can get angry. Being angry is not a sin, in one medical website

anger is described as  a natural emotion that every human and many non-human animals experience. Mild forms of human anger may include displeasure, irritation or dislike. When we react to frustration, criticism or a threat, we may become angry - and usually this is a healthy response. It is therefore not a sin to get angry and the bible supports this notion. It is what we do in anger that becomes sin. How? by brooding on anger and keeping grudges in our hearts, by responding to any written or spoken criticism while still angry and reacting to anything without thinking. The bible asks us to get rid of anger before it breeds sin. How do we do that? It is to preach about people getting rid of anger but forgetting to say how we should go about it. The bible says in Colosians 3:13 that we should bear with one another. It should be noted here that the exhortation to bear is not a subjunctive but an expected requirement of every Christian and that is why it is in the present participle describing our expected nature as Christians;Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgiveMany of us still have grudges we never forgive those who trespass against us. Jesus taught us how to pray, and in one of the lines in What we call the Lord's prayer we pray forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. I am not sure about this but I was once told that a Jesuit priest advised one person who often got angry to pray the Lord's prayer 20 times before he/she responded to what may have made him/her angry. There is wisdom in this.

On the the same medical website it is further said that anger may be a secondary response to feeling sad, lonely or frightened. When anger becomes a full-blown rage our judgment and thinking can become impaired and we are more likely to do and say unreasonable and irrational things. This is what the bible calls sin because the unreasonable and irrational things that we may say may hurt others and that is why the bible in the passage in Ephesians 4: 28 says

29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. My question to all of us on this forum is; Does what we write here befit our stature? Because at the end of the day we shall be brought to account for our actions.

Another thing to note here is that anger does not just damage those who listen to us or read our posts but it also destroys us. Medical news today says thatAnger is not just a mental state of mind. It triggers an increase in heart rate, blood pressure and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Anger has survival benefits, and forms part of our fight or flight brain response to a perceived threat or harm.(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/162035.php)James 3:1-12 James warns us leaders in the following words not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ...

28 He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 

In the verse above, we are admonished by Paul to work and earn. We should never steal. Pastor Birai recently asked us a very vital Question if we have ever been robbers. In our leadership positions wherever we are and wherever we have been have we taken someones land, property, money, or anything. Have we taken or grabbed land fro the orphans or from the poor by giving them money that is not equivalent to their land? Who among our leaders is clean of this?

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

The key to leading a peaceful life is in the words above. We should grieve the Holy Spirit. What sins grieves the Holy Spirit?  bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.All these are put into one   Rebellion. Rebellion is a sin that grieves God. Take us Parents for example, if our children steal, we correct them by punishing and God does that to us too but when they rebel, we are left grief because a rebellious son or daughter does things which embarrass a parent and brings disrepute to the parents. When we engage in the sins above we grieve the Holy Spirit who indwells us from the time we became God's Children when we believed. Do you think there is Being kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you"  between William Ruto and Raila Odinga? Among our leaders? Among the Kenyan Communities? What should you do as a Kenyan Christian?

Remember in Genesis after Cain had been seized with anger? God showed him the way out of sin, and that was recorded in the following 

  ⁴ Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; ⁵ but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. ⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, ^[e]will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” ⁸ Cain ^[f]told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Cain did not only disobey God but also rebelled against Him and Anger mastered him culminating in the first murder recorded in History. It is this anger that made us Kenyans take weapons against our own brothers and sisters without caring that God was seeing all these. We ought to repent and seek God's face. Prayer rallies that are just for publicity and campaign against anyone makes our situation worse before God because we are taking Him For granted. 

May God bless us all.