Put Your Anger in Check

 

The woman behind the counter at a local supercenter was shaking profusely. After a heated exchange with a disgruntle customer, she had lost her usual composure and demeanor. Before coming to work that day, a situation she had been dealing with at home was already weighing heavy on her mind. At first, she tried her hardest to be calm and respectful, but the customer continued to be demeaning. When the customer learned that things would not be resolved to her satisfaction, she escalated to using profanity and calling the cashier names. The customer was so irate that security had to be called. Coworkers tried to calm down the cashier who was ready to come to blows with this customer, but she was too upset to continue working.

God has not left us in the dark concerning how we should address anger. Proverbs 15:1-2(NLT) says, “A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. 2 The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness.” As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called to be peacemakers, and God’s Word tells us that one way to do this is to give a gentle answer, particularly when we see the potential for a situation where tempers can flare up. We live in a climate today where many people are powder kegs that are about ready to explode. They seem to be waiting for a situation that will give them permission to unload on someone. Peace is very easily broken, but we have a choice. We don’t have to contribute to this negativity. In fact, we can be the ones to usher in God’s peace and prevent a bad situation from getting worse.

If we think about it carefully, we’ll see that the mouth is the starting point for either calming a situation down or escalating it. Heavenly Father warns us many times in His Word to watch what we say and to be careful how we say it. He tells us in Proverbs 18:21(NLT), “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.” We have a choice of either to speak words that will do a great deal of good or bring a great deal of injury. And this injury is done both to us and the person to whom we may have spoken venomous or harmful words.

God has designed life in such a way that nothing we do is dormant. Every action, every choice and decision have a consequence. Life will hurl back to us what we put out there, and it will do so with greater abundance than our initial investment. This works for both right and wrong actions. 1Corinthians 13:4 tells us that love is patient and kind. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ has instructed us to love through his example, and if we do this, we will be blessed. Allowing God’s love to govern our choices and decisions will cause his goodness to boomerang with no end. This is what we should be striving to do.

James 3:6(NLT) says, “And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” We can see clearly from this scripture that the words we speak can cause and bring incredible trouble to our lives. God commands us to walk by the Spirit. This means that we must train our minds and hearts to go instantly in prayer when we face challenges and adversity. We must ask God to help us through His Spirit, because His Spirit lives in us, and he, the Spirit, will arrest any feelings of rage within to the point that the path to them is blocked.

James said in James 3:2(NLT), “Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.” How wonderful it would be if we pleased God in everything and never made a mistake or displease Him in any way, but this is not the case. We are being perfected daily in Christ, and we are works in progress. As we encounter situations that reveal our weaknesses and flaws, we must not spring into arrogance and seek to blame others. Spiritual maturity beckons us to be accountable and humble ourselves before God. We must seek His forgiveness, forgive others and ourselves, and we must place our angry feelings under submission to the Holy Spirit. This is the only way to grow in the love of Christ and to put our anger and our mouths in check.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Put Your Anger in Check”,  written for Christian Encouragement and Inspiration© 2021. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.