Biblical Anger Management

I've never seen this movie, and I don't think I'd recommend it, but there is a lot of really funny truth in this short trailer.  Not so funny, is our culture careening toward destruction on the path of laziness and apathy.  And anyone who dares to confront these twin icons of tolerance is vilified.  Sandler's character not only had a right, but even a loving responsibility, to ask the flight attendant to do what she was being paid to do.  By ignoring him, she was dishonoring him, dishonoring her employer, and in doing so, she was bringing dishonor upon herself.

You ask, "But doesn't Jesus want us to be peacemakers?"  Yes, but history provides us a World War and a holocaust as evidence that should help us grasp the difference between a peacemaker and an appeaser.  Real peace can never be purchased by selling off virtue, justice, or truth.

So, what does God have to say about this?  I find 3 main principles that apply:

1.  Be Angry Seldom - The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the believers in Corinth, gives the quintessential description of love.  Sandwiched in the middle of that description, the apostle proclaims the truth that love "is not easily angered" (1 Cor. 13:5).  He doesn't say that love doesn't get angry.  In fact, implied in his statement is this fundamental and crucial element:  Love does get angry.
     The Enemy has heavily infiltrated and influenced our culture so that what is peddled as "enlightened" civility is really the foundation that is being laid for a society of milk-toast citizens - - people who will not stand up to the attitudes, actions, and apathy that are destroying our country & all of mankind - - one purpose-starved life at a time.  What God tells us in His Word is this:  In Order To Really Love, You Will Get Angry.  
     However, you cannot allow anger to be your main source of energy in life.  Paul writes, once again, to believers: "In your anger, do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.  And do not give the devil a foothold." (Ephesians 4:26-27)


2.  Control Your Anger - King Solomon, in Proverbs 29:11, teaches us that "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control".  Here, God draws a stark contrast between a fool and a wise man.  A fool just lets go with everything.  In the original language you get the picture of one who loses his mind (Been there, unfortunately).  By contrast, a man of wisdom controls his anger.  This doesn't mean that he doesn't get angry, but just that the man is in control, not the anger.  The wise man gets angry on purpose.  This purpose is to accomplish good (See #3).


3.  Get Angry Over What Makes God Angry - Psalm 7:11 tells us that "God expresses his wrath (anger) every day".  Having acknowledged that, if you take a look at what His Word tells us makes Him angry, you will find that God is angered when men do not tell the truth, when men take advantage of those unable to stand for themselves, when men do not make God their priority.  It is when men ignore Him and His Word that God is angered.  And by doing these things, we are dishonoring ourselves and everyone around us.  That makes God angry and it should make us angry, too.

Though certainly not an exhaustive exploration, we have more than enough to show us that God does not expect us to sit idly by and watch the enemy take men, women, and their families captive into his stronghold of lies without being confronted.  Confrontations may not ever be pleasant, and they will seldom be neat & tidy, but they are always necessary when right and wrong meet.  And if those of us who follow Jesus really believe that He is The Way (i.e. the right way) we had better practice the biblically correct - - and jettison the politically correct - - way to deal with and handle anger and confrontation in our culture.  And, also, within the church.

That is a real Challenge.
This is Challenge Pointe.

Semper Fidelis.
Doug