Handling Anger
Eternity Online: John Edmiston (Editor)
Eternity-Inspiration for Wednesday 25th November 1997
Handling Anger
Please pray for me and for Eternity Online Magazine as things are
quite difficult at the moment. Thanks.
Matthew 5:21-26 NKJV) "You have heard that it was said to those of
old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of
the judgment.' {22} "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And
whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the
council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell
fire. {23} "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there
remember that your brother has something against you, {24} "leave your
gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to
your brother, and then come and offer your gift. {25} "Agree with your
adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your
adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the
officer, and you be thrown into prison. {26} "Assuredly, I say to you,
you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last
penny.
People with angry dispositions destroy their careers, marriages and
relationships. They end up in one of three places - the morgue, the
jail or the hospital. Yet anger is a common part of life and even an
emotion that God experiences (Psalms 7:11 NIV) God is a righteous
judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. Jesus displayed
anger at the scribes and Pharisees and their merciless attitude to
life. (Mark 3:5 NIV) He looked around at them in anger and, deeply
distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out
your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely
restored. Later on Paul says (Ephesians 4:26 NKJV) "Be angry, and do
not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, thus indicating
that sometimes anger may be acceptable for the Christian.
There are two things about acceptable anger. Firstly it is slow to be
aroused, secondly it is short-lived and always willing to be
reconciled. On the first of these God is "slow to anger" (Exodus
34:6,7) and James says (James 1:19-20 NKJV) So then, my beloved
brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to
wrath; {20} for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness
of God. On the second it is clear throughout the New Testament that
we are "not to let the sun go down on our anger" and to reconcile
speedily any disputes that arise.
The context is Jesus affirming the Law and His upholding of it. His
gospel of grace and acceptance of sinners was in danger of being
interpreted wrongly so He first of all shows that Kingdom standards
are not lower than those in the Law. In fact they are stricter!
Jesus is saying that unjustified anger "in the Kingdom" is
equivalent to the sin of murder "under the Law". We are dealing with
two parallel but different standards of holiness. In one code
unjustified anger and name calling were not even offences, in the
other it places you in danger of jail or of Hell. Thus Jesus is not
adding to the Law but rather using the Law as a "launching pad" for
discussing the Kingdom. It is an argument from the lesser (the Law)
to the greater (the Kingdom). If x is the standard of holiness
under the Mosaic code which is for an national kingdom then y will
be the standard of holiness in the Kingdom which is "of Heaven".
We see then that Jesus saw anger as a very serious thing and not as a
casual emotion. I cannot see Jesus saying that we need to "let it all
hang out". He is no advocate of emotional catharsis. He was fully
aware that catharsis of our anger only breeds immaturity in the long
term. We cannot live a blessed life if we are constantly getting angry
over nothing. That will only bring us into judgement and destroy the
works of our hands. We can see this judgement in action in the lives
of the habitually angry. They are riddled with psychosomatic as orders
such as ulcers, depression and stress reactions. They get angry so
they speed, the get booked speeding so they yell at the policeman and
get twice the fine. They get indignant about the fine and refuse to
pay it and end up in jail. Anger gets people into legal trouble and
into fights. Sometimes angry people pick up a gun and kill or are
killed. Others are arrested and spend a life in jail. Letting anger
grow inside us is a recipe for disaster in life and only leads to the
morgue, the jail or the hospital.
Prayer:
Lord we are all guilty before you when it comes to anger. Please
forgive us Lord and help us to have cool and patient temperaments.
May we be wise emotionally knowing when to rebuke and when to leave
alone. Help us to be slow to anger and quick to forgive. Amen.
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John Edmiston ([email protected])
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