Overcoming Anger
“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;” is God’s command to every believer as spoken by David in Psalm 37:8. Paul wrote, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.” (Ephesians 4:31)
The apostle James said, “Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20) What is the problem with anger that God speaks so strongly against it? Anger is like an active volcano. Its outward eruptions result from inward tension. It is unpredictable and hurts those closest to it. It causes damage that lasts long after it quiets down. And life near it is never quite the same after an eruption. How can you conquer anger? Begin with understanding what produces an angry person. When you demand your “rights,” anyone that gets in your way makes you angry. When you place “expectations” on someone, you get angry if that person doesn’t live up to them. Usually, the rights you claim are valid; and the expectations you have are real “responsibilities” of the other person. However, you don’t have the power to make people act the way you want them to. So, consider Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” Our Lord yielded virtually every right He possessed as God. In fact, “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death.” (v. 8) How can you conquer anger? (1) Give up all your rights to God; (2) don’t place expectations on other people; (3) be sure to fulfill all of your own responsibilities; (4) use anger as an alarm that you have rights or expectations to deal with; and (5) if God gives you back a right as a privilege, thank Him for it in gratitude. Could others describe you as a person given to anger and wrath, a smoldering volcano? Apply this principle of “yielding rights” and you will conquer anger.
Sin cera, Erik
Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.
