Jesus said, “I am
telling you, however, that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister
must be brought to justice. Further, anyone who says to their brother or
sister, ‘You fool!’ must face trial before the assembly, and anyone who
addresses another person as ‘Stupid’ deserves the fires of the rubbish tip.”
—
Matthew 5:22
(USC)
Anger management is a program domestic violence perpetrators take when they
are found out in the process of legal proceedings. But, the truth is, we all
must manage our anger, for if we don’t our anger will manage us.
Anger causes us to
do great damage to those we both love and despise. It causes tangible damage
that we would otherwise see. And it also causes intangible damage
psychologically. Little wonder that Jesus wants it dealt with swiftly.
The tongue has a
great deal of negative power when it is at the whip hand of our impatience and
intolerance. James chapter 3 talks about this in detail. The tongue cuts things
down, sets entire forests alight, is so powerful for its size, and has been
known to ruin 20-year reputations in one sentence.
What drives the lashing
tongue is the heart of visceral malcontent.
Where we are so
driven to exact our own justice, anger will justify every sense of foolish
self-righteousness. And, because righteous indignation is such a delicate
balance, we are most likely to tip into self-righteousness.
But if we are
patient and tolerant and necessarily dependent on God, we will have
self-control to peruse many of our words before we say them. We will think a
little while longer before we act. We will determine indirect paths as the ways
of patience and wisdom.
Not every way that
appears right to us is right. And we only know this through the discernment of
retrospect. We are wise, only, from rear-view vision.
***
We are wise to watch
our words, and smarter still to rethink them. Anger will not be disguised when
it is deployed full force. It is always much better to consider the
improvements we can make to our own hearts, before we insist on how others may
improve themselves.
Friends are made
easily when we are more concerned about how we may love them than we are about
how they should love us.
***
QUESTIONS in REVIEW:
1. What kind of names do you find
yourself calling people? We know that Christians aren’t supposed to call people
names, but the truth is we do exactly that sometimes, even if under our breath.
How is God to help you?
2. How do you manage your anger
proactively? Do you disclose and discuss it?
© 2015 S. J. Wickham.
Note: USC version is Under the Southern Cross, The New Testament in Australian English
(2014). This translation was painstakingly developed by Dr. Richard Moore, a NT
Greek scholar, over nearly thirty years.
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