the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Daily Devotionals
Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life
Ever see a bottle of champaign opened? The cork in a bottle of wine is inserted before the fermentation process is completed. As a result, great pressure builds inside the bottle from the fermentation. The cork, when given a little nudge, pops off the bottle. Sometimes it gets fired across a room, sometimes it just pops up a tad.
Fermentation is the introduction of a living organism to a fruit juice which causes the sugar to change to ethyl alcohol. The process causes carbonation which builds the pressure under the cork. It's kind of like what happens when you shake a bottle of pop, except with a bottle of pop the pressure backs off as the carbonation subsides. With champaign the carbonation is constant due to the fermentation and the pressure actually increases with age until the bottle is opened.
What is interesting is that this little truth has spawned a worldwide understanding of a phrase. If you were to tell someone that a person "popped their cork" they would almost immediately understand you to mean that that person got mad in a hurry. The pressure built inside them and then their cork popped. Ever ask why some people pop their corks more readily than others?
Benjamin Franklin wrote, "Anger is never without a reason, but seldom with a good one." So many light up over things that are not that important basically because of their attitude. Anger implies authority. If something isn't "right" anger builds. But who determines what is "right"? That's the authority part. We often shoulder more than our fair share of authority and allow it to build pressure within us. It is not wrong to be angry, but it is wrong if it causes us to pop our cork.
"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil." Ephesians 4:26, 27 Like the experienced maitre d' who can remove the cork from champaign without "losing it", we must learn to bridle our arrogance in anger and resolve it before the day's end so Satan cannot use it against us and God. In the final analysis, God is the only one with enough authority to "pop the cork". Let's pray He never does.
'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' Copyright 2010 © Tom Kelley. 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' articles may be reproduced in whole under the following provisions: 1) A proper credit must be given to the author at the end of each story, along with their complete bio and a link to https://www.studylight.org/ 2) 'Chip Shots from the Ruff of Life' content may not be arranged or "mirrored" as a competitive online service.
