Get Your Emoticons Under Control!
Have you ever seen this?>:-What if we had this emoticon popped up over your head every time we were angry? Would you be embarrassed :”> or would you stop getting angry as often as you are? Probably not… think about it…
Why is anger so pervasive? The answer lies in the reality that we are made in the image of God. After all, God experiences anger. God’s anger is based on His holiness and His love. His holiness means that He is righteous in all of His thoughts and deeds, and His love means that He cares about the well being of His creatures. When His creatures violate what He knows to be right, God experiences anger. This motivates Him to take constructive action. I believe our experience of anger is very similar.
But, Anger is more than just an emotion [or an emoticon 
]. It involves the emotions, the body, the mind, and the will, all of which are stimulated by some event in the individual’s life. All people have some sense of fairness or rightness. When they encounter what they consider to be wrong, they experience anger. Anger is an indication that we are moral creatures. God made us, and we reflect His concern for righteousness. Anger is a friend, not an enemy.
Anger is not evil; anger is not sinful; anger is not a part of our fallen nature; anger is not Satan at work in our lives. Quite the contrary. Anger is evidence that we are made in God’s image, and He experiences anger because He is holy and loving. We should thank God for our capacity to experience anger. Thank God for anger, and then learn how to process it in a godly way.
How do you process your anger? How do you keep yourself from letting anger overcome you?
I cannot wait to get and read this book. I have a short fuse and I admire my hubby for having great restraint. I wish I were more like that. As James 1:19 says “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” I feel that I fly off the handle, later regretting the way I acted (I might have been justified, but my credibility was ruined for the way I behaved). There is a right way and a wrong way to handle things and I would love to get a grip on my anger.
Thanks for that reminder Jena, James 1:19 is a great verse to help us keep that anger in check. Anyone else have thoughts on Jena’s comment?
I get the anger being part of our being created in God’s image. What I struggle with, is the harnessing the anger. Need to work on that ol’ self-control, discipline. Galatians 5:22
Jena I admire your honesty! Acknowledging our struggles is the first step to working on them. And I understand your point about feeling justified in your anger. It’s not worth being “right” at all costs!
I definitely want to get this book. Being a bit of a control freak, I am amazed at how easily I can become out-of-control with my anger. Unfortuantely it is mostly directed toward the people closest to me, my family. It is definitely a weakness, I hope to curb from reading this book. Thank you so much.