EXPRESS ANGER IN APPROPRIATE WAYS
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Ephesians 4:26 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
We are told not let our anger control us. That is worth thinking about for a moment. It appears Paul is wanting us to learn how to express anger in appropriate ways so that it doesn’t just stay burning inside of us. But the unfortunate truth is that many of us learned how to express anger as a young child and never outgrew that method of expression.
Paul even encourages us to express our anger in a quick fashion— “don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.” I don’t believe this is to be taken literally but to be a figurative statement that we should not harbor anger for a long period of time because it only burns away at our insides and causes us to explode on others.
As we begin to learn how to express anger in appropriate ways we should ask ourselves what is the source of our anger. One man that I trust a lot says that anger has basically three sources—fear, hurt, or frustration.
Is this situation or person making me afraid? Why?
Am I hurt because of what someone did or said? Why?
Am I frustrated at what is happening? Why?
When I pause and answer these questions it helps me understand why I am angry. I can then formulate what my response should be. There will be times when my anger is out of fear, and it is not a rational fear. There will be times when my anger is out of hurt and I need to go talk to the person to get a better understanding of what they said or did.
Once we learn to ask ourselves questions about our anger, we begin to develop better ways to respond and express our anger. Being angry is not always bad, it is the way we express that anger that often escalates the problem.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit teach me how to pause and reflect on why I am angry. Help me to learn healthy ways to express my anger.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”