Anger Unleashed & Revisited

The meek are not those who are never at all angry, for such are insensible; but those who, feeling anger, control it, and are angry only when they ought to be. Meekness excludes revenge, irritability, morbid sensitiveness, but not self-defence, or a quiet and steady maintenance of right.  Theophylact

I went to Home Depot last night to get paint.  Tuesday must have been “Blue Light Special” paint day, because there were about 8 other people there to buy paint.  When I walked up there was no one behind the counter and everyone was looking at paint colors.  I knew exactly what color I wanted so I grabbed the paint card and went to stand at the counter to wait for someone to assist me.  As I was waiting I saw the clerk assisting another customer. 

I decided to wait patiently and grabbed my cell phone to read my emails.  Say what you want about technology, but it has saved me from getting frustrated more times than I care to admit. 

So there was a man who walked up to the counter after I did.  He kept watching the clerk assisting the other customer and finally he just blew up.  He started yelling at the clerk.  He started ranting about how he had been waiting and did anyone else work in this department and on and on.  I must say I admired the young clerk for how she handled the situation. She calmly turned to the customer who was still looking at paint colors and told her she would be back. 

The clerk assisted the man and he stalked off to harass someone else I am guessing.  She then turned to me and smiled and asked how she could help me.  The clerk could have gotten angry at the man and yelled back.  She could have let one man’s attitude affect how she handled every other customer.  Have you ever wondered what the person who shows anger like that is doing at home?  Are they beating their wife or verbally abusing their children or worse.

We are living in a world that is full of angry people.  Some feel the world owes them something and others are just ticking time bombs waiting to blow.  I was watching the news this morning and there were two high school cheerleader groups who got into a brawl on the field and were banned from the game this week.  Anger has become a worldwide epidemic.  The disease of anger can kill more people and relationships than some major physical diseases.

The sin of anger can destroy more relationships and ruin families, children and spouses.  We have become a society of angry people.  We cut each other off in traffic, we yell at our children.  We become the very opposite of what God intended us to be.

I read where a psychologist once said that everyone has a bucket of anger in them and once it gets full you need to let it out.  In reality if we allow anger to get a foothold in our life we basically build a factory where more and more anger is produced.  Once we are in full production we also manufacture other things like bitterness, unforgiveness and hatred. If anger weren’t important God wouldn’t have put 230 verses in the Bible dealing with it. 

How we handle anger can make the difference in us loving one another or living in hate and bitterness.  When anger takes up residence, your house will fall; it is just a matter of time.  

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I pray for a world filled with more love for You and less anger.  This world we live in is filled with angry people who are looking for their next victim. I know I sometimes get angry and it isn’t always the right kind of anger.  There is appropriate anger and inappropriate anger.  Help me to distinguish between the two, and confront others in love instead of anger. 

Scripture:  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.  Ephesians 4:30-32