Myself, I don’t often get angry. Actually it is extremely rare for me to get angry, my best friend can attest to that as he’s only seen more angry a time or two in the last 15′ish years. Don’t get me wrong, I do get angry, but more often I merely get agitated, irritated or upset, drop it and move on in life. I’ve found little use in my life to getting angry. Really if you think about things that have angered you, looking back, were those reasons worth the stress and anger? In nearly all cases I’m willing to bet you’ll say no, that the angry was just a momentary response. Now, I’m not saying there aren’t things that happen to us that aren’t worth anger, as there is, we just need to focus more and be more choosey where and how we direct our anger, especially as Christians.
My personal opinion on anger can be summed up easily. Anger is only a mask for another emotion. Identify that emotion that is causing your anger and deal with that and I can promise the anger will subside rather quickly.
I’d thought I’d look at anger for moment through a Christian perspective and see what God had to say about it. After a little searching I came across this great little article from Today’s Christian Woman. I’ve pulled the highlights from the article, but if you’d like to read the entire article, follow the link.
“Today’s Christian Woman”
http://www.christianitytoday.com/tcw/2004/janfeb/13.44.html
Obviously some things in life warrant anger. But God cautions us not to let that anger give way to sin (“In your anger do not sin,” Ephesians 4:26). In other words, it’s not the emotion of anger that’s sinful, but how we respond to our anger. We need to respond in a way that brings positive resolution. And we need to be more discriminating in what we allow to provoke our anger. Too often it springs from small matters—forgetful spouses, distracted drivers, inconsiderate co-workers, cranky children—none of which warrants the energy anger wastes or the control it assumes over us.
These questions now have become an effective tool for maintaining my self-control.
1. Is my anger out of proportion to the circumstance?
Disproportionate anger makes resolution difficult, if not impossible. For anger to have healthy results, it needs to be reasonable and thus, controllable. It needs to allow you to approach the target of your anger in a way that will let the person hear what you’re saying and make them more likely to consider making adjustments.
2. Is the momentary release I’ll get from expressing my anger worth the long-term havoc it will wreak?
The very nature of anger promotes exaggerated emotions. We say and do things we never would otherwise. Those words and actions never can be undone. As Christians, we can’t be too careful in monitoring our anger.
3. Is my anger worth dragging other uninvolved people into it?
Anger is usually a self-centered emotion. Your attention is turned inward on the wrong you’ve suffered, the wound you’ve had inflicted. In contrast, the principle of selflessness is woven consistently throughout the entire Bible: viewing others as more important than yourself (Philippians 2:3); dying to your desires and your wounds (Matthew 16:24). Such an attitude isn’t accomplished through destructive expressions of anger.
