Anger and Believers

I still believe that anger is a choice, ultimately. I have known some guys whose temperament has changed drastically over the years. They were angry in their younger days and used to be very confrontative. Some of them were just mean. They only wanted to intimidate other people, and for no reason. Those are simply bullies, and the reasons for their change often had to do with someone just standing up to them. A couple of them got a pretty good working over by someone else.

But the guys I've know who were just angry all of the time? I don't know that many of them have changed very much. The ones who have? Well, they have only mellowed a little bit over time, but still the grouchy sort.

I have known though, some really angry and violent guys whose entire outlook changed for the better. They may still deal with some old personality traits but now, beating people up is something they can hardly think of without abhorrence. A relationship with Jesus will do that to you.

Someone reading this might think that any religious commitment would be helpful in dealing with one's anger issues. Maybe so. Anger has a very degrading affect on one's mental outlook, and even one's physical health and well-being. A religious commitment tends to place one's focus on something other than what one is angry about. Anecdotal evidence I think, would support such speculation.

Anger is an issue that is woven throughout the headlines almost every day. It is also an issue in our day to day lives, and I still believe it is a choice. We can choose not to be angry. We have a spiritual nature, and a fleshly one. They are at war, but as Christians, our spiritual source of life is Holy Spirit, and He is stronger than our flesh. We must choose to obey Him. As we grow in our faith, spiritually, we can and should also be growing in different skills, with the use of the very practical tools that God gives us in His word. Particularly in Proverbs, we are shown godly traits that are required for dealing with anger. As believers, we need to be setting time apart for God, being sure that He is at the head of our decisions. In this way we will experience the very rich benefits of our spiritual nature, only because of His goodness and grace.

Faith in Jesus Christ endows us with a sense of purpose, of hope and gives us a peculiar peace in an angry, chaotic world. Our awareness of His infinite goodness, His grace and love for us are blessings we can enjoy every day. We inherit the fruits of His Holy Spirit: peace, patience, love, goodness, temperance, joy and longsuffering, and those are just some of them.

We can choose to leave anger alone, and give it over to God to deal with. He gives us a better way. Sometimes, anger is righteous, but it is not vindictive. If it is righteous, then it gives way to the love of a heart changed by God and we yield to His wisdom, and we look for His conclusion to a problem. We let Him guide us. We let Him change our hearts. We let Him show us who we are, and calm us to the point where we may realize that something may be angering, but that He will have victory over whatever it is.

We don't want to be foolish. We don't want to live through the consequences for anger. Whether the anger is ours, or somebody else's, we should deal with it through patience, and we must practice love.

31"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and tumult and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." Ephesians 4:31-32