Slaying My Anger

I was angry this morning.  I won't go into what the situation might be (other than to say it most expressly does not have anything to do with Michael, naturally), but I will say that I was on the brink of tears.  That's my typical response when I shoot past irritated, cruise beyond frustrated, & arrive at destination:  angry, angry, angry.  It doesn't help that it's completely beyond my control either - the situation, that is.  What do you do when you feel that choler burning & boiling up from the pit of your stomach, threatening to erupt in a scream?  I pondered calling Beth to vent or Sweet T to beg for wisdom & advice.  I considered waking Michael up so I could pour out my anguish & receive his sympathy.  Instead, I cried out to God to "help me, please help me, because I don't want to feel this way or respond in this manner."  He brought to mind John Piper's "How to Kill Sin" sermon series, which I have lately been listening to once again.  My thoughts ran thus:

     ~Anger is the sin that I'm presently battling, & I want to kill it.
     ~How do you kill sin?  By the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
     ~That means I need to delve into my Bible to see what it has to say about anger.

Here's what I found, & it was very helpful.  As the situation & feelings of anger have continued to spring to the surface throughout this day, I have been fleeing back to God's Word for the renewal of my mind & spirit.  I pray it is the same balm to you.

*Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.  A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy (often the cause of anger) makes the bones rot.  ~Proverbs 14:29-30 (notation mine)

*A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.  ~Proverbs 15:18

*Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, & he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.  ~Proverbs 16:32

*Good sense makes one slow to anger, & it is his glory to overlook an offense.  ~Proverbs 19:11

*Know this, my beloved brothers:  let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, & slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.  ~James 1:19-20

*A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.  A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.  ~Proverbs 15:1, 4 (I found this appropriate because I'm likely to have a "harsh" or "perverse" tongue when I feel angry.)

*But now you must put them all away:  anger, wrath, malice, slander, & obscene talk from your mouth.  Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy & beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, & patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  ~Colossians 3:8, 12-13

May the word of Christ dwell in us richly & the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.  Amen.

My Angry Day

I hesitate to write this post mainly because it is obvious from our blog that we are Christians, & I don't want to do anything that brings shame on Christ. My hope is that this post will instead show that Christians aren't perfect, but we are forgiven & are constantly undergoing sanctification.

I am angry today. Actually, it started last night. But before I even tell you about last night, let me remind you that my parents are coming tomorrow for my birthday. I'm very excited! But, if you know me at all, you know that I obsess over my house being perfect when anyone comes over. And when something hinders that, my temper flares. Which leads me to last night. My beloved bought a new pair of jeans that needed alteration. Long story extremely short, I sat down to taper (yea, me!) & hem them & got up 2 hours later, completely frustrated. I had more than one little tearful melt-down because for some reason still altogether unknown to me, the bobbin thread was a tangled mess not once, not twice, but 4 times. Meaning that the seam had to be ripped out 4 times! It finally (thankfully!) started working right, but no one would have thought me godly when I was in the midst of this project. To make matters worse, all this sewing made me get into bed 2 hours later than I should have to be fully rested for church this morning. Me minus a full 8 hours' sleep is not a pretty picture. So began another day of frustration.

And how did my day start? Well, with the hot water turning to frigid well before the end of my shower. Cold shower in the middle of the winter is, shall we say, unpleasant. But the rest of the morning went well, & off to church we went. We left church & stopped at Sonic for lunch because the meal that I fixed last night & planned for lunch leftovers was ruined by tough meat. Again, long story very short (I promise, you want that) after sitting in the drive through - as the first car, mind you - for almost 15 minutes, we get home to find the order wrong & the fry cartons half full. Tired & hungry do not a good combination make in this situation! But things always look better after some rest, so I laid down for a nap with my sweet Michael.

I woke up much earlier than I expected because I was sick to my stomach - I know, I know, that's what I get. I decided to get busy meeting the ever-dimming goal of house-perfecting, beginning with the kitchen. Upon opening the dishwasher to unload the dishes, what do I find, but several still dirty dishes! Thanks to this little development, I now have 2 more loads to wash instead of just one. On top of it all, my babies were chewing rawhides when about 15 minutes ago, there was this huge "CRACK!" & I found that Ginger has broken not one, but 2 teeth! Like, seriously?! If I were on the outside looking in, this whole thing would be comical.

Now, I've been a Christian long enough to know that when I'm bombarded with the same sorts of situations or temptations, God's busy getting my attention. In all of these instances, God is sovereignly working to graciously show me my sin of anger. It is an area in which I need loads of work. As I've said before, one verse that really speaks to me is James 1:19-21:

"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls."

I've already proven that I can't do this on my own. I am an angry person by nature. It certainly helps me to recite these verses to myself when I'm tempted to anger, but sometimes it happens so quickly that my faculties leave me, & I forget to turn to God's Word. The beauty of these verses is that they display both man's responsibility & God's work. We work to "be slow to anger" (in this instance) & to "put away all filthiness & rampant wickedness". But God implants His Word in our hearts, & all we're to do is "receive [it] with meekness"!

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to obey My rules." (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

I am responsible to follow God's commands & kill my own sin. But if I stop there, I become burdened by the knowledge that I can't do so. So, Paul reminds me that it is God who works in me. He gives me both the desire & the ability to obey Him. I can overcome my sin of anger - & every other sin - as long as I'm relying on God.

"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:12-13)

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." (Romans 8:13)

And joy of joys, when I do fail - which as a sinner, I'm still going to do - I am freely given forgiveness upon repentance. I rely on Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to cover over my sin. I'm assured that I stand accepted, loved, & clothed in Christ's righteousness before God.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith." (Romans 3:23-25)

"For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:21)