Medicine for the Soul

1. Greetings. (follow local custom)

2. Where are you going?

1. I'm going over there. I'm looking for a medicine.

2. What medicine are you looking for?

l. I'm looking for a medicine for anger. I made much anger day before yesterday, and my heart-stomach is unwell.

2. Why did you make anger?

1. I quarreled with my brother-in-law. He said bad words to me. We punched one another, and it made me very angry. For this reason my heart-stomach is not well.

2. Even if there were a medicine to cure anger and your heart-stomach would get better for a while, the day will come along again when someone will make you angry, and then you will be ill all over again.

1. What shall I do then?

2. You need to ask God to change your heart for you. You must forgive your brother-in-law. Don't continually be thinking about what he did to you.

1. I don't want to forgive him. When I think about what he said to me, I want to fight with him again.

2. If you don't want to forgive your fellow man for what he has done to you, likewise God won't forgive you for what you have done against Him.

1. Have I done anything against God? What do I owe that One?

2. God does not want you to be angry with your fellow man. There are written in God's Word many things that He does not want us to do.

1. What are those things like?

2. It says that God won't allow into the place where He rules, people who forsake their husbands or their wives; and also those who believe in saints (false gods) that don't move; and those who steal; those who take away the money of their fellowman; those who get drunk; those who tell lies; and those who practice deceit because they want their money to increase right away. All who do those things are evil-doers, and they won't enter in where God is. They will go to the place of punishment where there is great suffering.

1. But I don't do those things that you have said.

2. Even though you don't do those, you hate your fellow man. There are also other things that contaminate our hearts too.

1. What are the other things like?

2. It says in the Word of God, it is evil if anyone thinks evil thoughts; the one who speaks evil of his neighbor; if anyone hates his fellow man;if anyone kills his fellow man. He is also bad who speaks curses or is proud. All these things God doesn't like.

1. If God forbids all these things that you have told me, what can a person do to arrive where God is?

2. The person who doesn't change his heart cannot arrive where God is.

1. How can I change my heart then?

2. Ask God to give you a new heart. With that heart you will fear God and obey His commandments because they will be written in your heart so you will remember (think about) what they say. You will know God. His Holy Spirit will live in your heart and cause you to do the things that God wants.

1. My heart is not like that. I do not know how to do what God wants.

2. God sent His Son Jesus to receive the punishment that belongs to us. If you believe in Jesus, He will cleanse your heart and make it new. Ask Him.