How To Be Angry (785 hits)

How do you act when you get angry? Do you blow up and explode your anger at someone, or do you hold it back and not show any reaction to what has made you angry? If you are the first type of person, you are probably quite well aware that you have a problem with anger. If you are the second person you might be smug in the fact that you can control your anger. But actually you both have a problem with anger.

There are two ways to react in anger. The first is to explode, and the second is to implode. In the first you spew your anger out all over the place, like a volcano. In the second you let it boil and simmer, like soup. Each person seems to think that his or her way of dealing with anger is better. The expressive person 'gets it off their chest' instead of brooding for days. The introverted person keeps it inside instead of making trouble with others.

But this verse says you must cease from anger and forsake wrath. I'll bet that if I asked you the difference between anger and wrath you couldn't tell me. Well I'm sure that by now you have guessed that it is the two types of anger I have just described above. The Hebrew word translated as wrath is clearly explosive anger; the kind that is quite obvious to everyone.

But the word that is translated as anger here, is a word that speaks about the look on a person's face, the way he twitches his nose, or the way he breathes. You can tell when this kind of anger is there. It shows in the face, and the heavy breathing. If you look close you might even see some steam coming out the nose. But you won't hear the explosion.

Well we cannot deal in detail with anger here. We'll cover that in our counseling section. But let me just summarize the principles for you. Anger per se is not sin. Even Jesus was angry. Anger is a build up of emotional energy that is given to us to help us deal with problems that we face in our lives. Well, usually the problem is a person.

The problem with both of these reactions to anger is that neither of them solves the problem. Explosive anger, instead of solving the problem, can cause further problems because it stirs up the person you exploded against. You end up with more angry people and barriers between you. Internal anger or sulking avoids the problem. It can cause stomach ulcers in the person who is angry, and it creates barriers between people, so that they avoid each other. It also seeks revenge and plots against others.

God's way according to Paul in Ephesians 4:26 is

"Be angry, but do not sin: do not let the sun go down upon your wrath."

The only way you are going to achieve this is to use anger to do what it was designed to do - attack problems. So you are going to have to let it out at the problem, without harming the person.

That is going to mean confronting someone not avoiding them. It is going to involve speaking the truth in love, not using malicious words. It is also going to involve taking a look at your own beam first, before you try to take the splinter out of the eye of another person.

So you might get the satisfaction of being angry, but it's going to cost you.

By Les D.Crause
www.AMI-BOOKSHOP.com



Posted By: Jen Fad
Tuesday, March 29th 2011 at 11:50AM
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