TODAY IS…

the right day for a little anger management.

“My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry…”  James 1:19 NIV

The instructions given by James in this verse have been valuable ones for all who have read (and heeded) them since they were first written. Particularly when he admonishes everyone to be “slow to become angry.”

We are all familiar with the term “Anger Management,” and even though James did not use those exact words, managing our anger is exactly what he was talking about.

It would be the extremely rare individual, indeed, who never gets angry.

Each of us gets pushed to the brink at some point in time. The reasons for our anger are an important consideration in managing how we react. When we become angry because of an injustice that we are witness to, the cause of the anger is justified, but how the anger is managed is important. Anger can move us to take positive action to correct a situation. Controlling our anger rather than letting it control us can be very helpful in certain situations and for certain reasons.

There are other types of anger over which we should exercise even tighter control. Anger borne of jealousy, a bruised ego, or a selfish perception of “hurt” is destructive and nothing good can come out of it. This type of anger damages relationships, hurts friendships, and accomplishes nothing positive.

Many of us know someone whose ‘flash-point’ is extremely low and is triggered by some perception of a wrong being perpetrated on them. The response to the most inconsequential thing sends them into a destructive, uncontrolled and potentially violent rage that is uncomfortable to witness and even causes friends and family to avoid that person in certain situations.

If this describes you or someone you know, it is important to listen to James when he says, “…for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:20 NIV).

There are movies and television shows that treat Anger Management as a humorous subject.

In real life, there is nothing at all humorous about uncontrolled anger. It may require a lot of work for some, but controlling our anger is important to each one of us, as well as those around us.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson