Control Your Anger
You don’t have to look very far to find an illustration, that all of us can agree on is a great picture of where unrestrained anger can take a person.
For instance, do you remember the story of Lisa M. Nowak, a NASA astronaut blasted off into bizarro world when she raced 950 miles to Florida nonstop from Houston — wearing a black wig, dark glasses and a brown trench coat? Her mission? Attack a woman, Colleen Shipman, who was dating her Cape Canaveral Boyfriend.
She also brought a black duffel bag containing a 4-inch folding knife, a steel mallet, a pellet gun, 4 feet of tubing, garbage bags and latex gloves, police said.
She also had printouts of e-mails and letters she had exchanged with Shipman, along with the woman’s address.
When Nowak arrived, she approached Shipman late at night in the parking lot of Orlando International Airport as the victim got into her car.
“Can you help me, please?” Nowak allegedly asked Shipman. “My boyfriend was supposed to pick me up and he’s not here. I’ve been traveling, and it’s late. Can you give me a ride to the parking office?”
Shipman, noticing Nowak’s strange garb, declined and said she would get help for her. Nowak then insisted on using Shipman’s cell phone, but began to cry when told the battery was dead.
When Shipman rolled her window down, Nowak allegedly blasted her with pepper spray. The younger woman drove off to a tollbooth for help.
Officials later spotted Nowak dumping her wig and coat in a trash can and arrested her.
Nowak was released on $25,000 bail late Tuesday after being charged with attempted murder.
What would drive a graduate of the naval academy and active flight status shuttle pilot to do such crazy things?
One word: Anger.
Did Jesus teach us anything about anger? Yes. Plenty.
The bible gives us some clear,
Ways to Handle Anger:
► Recognize that you are responsible for how you respond to your anger. Matthew 5:21
Jesus teaches us that we can have control over anger – and are responsible for – how we respond to these feelings, what we do with them. When Jesus is saying you have heard you shall not murder, He is talking about how we respond to our anger:
After all, what causes murder? Anger. Deal with our anger, and we won’t commit murder. But that’s just the beginning. Deal with our anger, and we’ll feel better inside, and we’ll get along better with others.
A woman once apologized for her frequent flare-ups by telling the preacher Billy Sunday, “Yes, I have a bad temper, but it’s always over in a minute.”
Billy Sunday replied, “So is a shotgun blast! But look at the damage it can do in just a split second!”
Some people dwell on their anger, feeding it, encouraging the fire to grow bigger and hotter, until it explodes. In that case, anger is like a bomb ticking away, ready to explode. What we need is to learn how to drown the fire, and defuse the bomb.
Remember this. In fact, write it down:
No matter how long you nurse a grudge it won’t get better.
Recognize that you are responsible for how you respond to your anger, then,
► Remember that being angry can be right or wrong. Matthew 5:22
Verse 22 says “Whoever is angry with his brother without cause.” Therefore there must be a way to be angry with your brother with cause.” Right? There is a justified anger. In fact, the believer must be an angry person—angry with those who sin and do wrong, and are unjust and selfish in their behavior; angry at those who hurt others and take unborn lives and stand in the way of righteous living.
However, watch this, a justified anger is always disciplined and controlled; it is always limited to those who do wrong either against God or against others.
Maybe you have deep anger toward someone who has moved away or even passed away. It’s certainly not affecting them anymore. But it may be destroying you. Sit down, picture them in the other chair and tell them you forgive them.
Remember that when you allow your temper to get the best of you, it brings out the worst in you.
Recognize that you are responsible for how you respond to your anger, Remember that being angry can be right or wrong, thirdly,
► Realize that reconciliation is essential to worship. Matthew 5:23-24
The answer to anger is reconciliation. Christ had some surprising things to say about this point. You cannot worship with anger in your heart.
He says there is urgency in reconciliation. Reconciliation is always to precede worship. Even when we are entering the church to worship, if there is a problem with a brother, we are to turn around from worship and go to our brother seeking reconciliation. There are several reasons why reconciliation always precedes worship.
Reconciliation with God is one of the major purposes for worship. A person worships in order to seek reconciliation and fellowship with God and His people. Therefore, God does not accept the worship of a person who holds malice against Him or against any of His people. Statements of the fact make the point perfectly clear.
A break with another person means a break with God.
Unforgiveness toward another person by you means unforgiveness toward you by God.
Not being right with another person means not being right with God.
Broken fellowship with another person means broken fellowship with God.
Bad feelings toward another person mean unacceptance by God.
Anger against another person means rejection by God.
If we honestly seek the One & Only Living God, then He will be found. He will be found in His word and at work in your life.
During the Vietnam conflict, a young graduate of West Point Academy was sent to Vietnam to lead a group of new recruits into battle. He did his job well, trying his best to keep his men from ambush and death. However, one night he and his men were overtaken by a battalion of the Viet Cong. He was able to get all but one of his men to safety.
The one soldier who had been left behind had been severely wounded, and from their trenches, the young lieutenant and his men could hear their wounded comrade moaning and crying for help. They all knew that venturing out into the vicious crossfire of the enemy would mean almost certain death. But the groaning of the wounded soldier continued on through the night.
Eventually, the endurance of the young lieutenant came to an end, and he crawled out of this place of safety toward the cries of the dying man. He got to him safely and was able to drag him back. But just as he pushed the wounded man into the safety of the trench, he himself caught a bullet in the back and was killed instantly.
Several months later, the rescued man returned to the United States, and when the parents of the dead hero heard that he was in their vicinity, they planned to have him come to dinner. They wanted to know this young man whose life was spared at such a great cost to them.
On the night of the dinner party, their guest arrived drunk. He was loud and boisterous. He told off-color jokes and showed no concern for his suffering hosts. The parents of the dead hero did the best they could to make it a worthwhile evening, but their efforts went unrewarded.
At the end of that torturous visit, the obscene guest left. As her husband closed the door, the mother collapsed in tears and cried, “To think that our precious son had to die for somebody like that.” That soldier owed those parents the best that was in him. It was evil for him to give so little thought to what they had lost because of him. Considering the price that had been paid for his life, his ingratitude was beyond comprehension.
But the husband said something worthwhile. He said, “But we are just like him – Jesus died for us, yet we continue to sin. We fail to reflect on the cost of our salvation. We fail to respect the One and only Jesus Christ Who died for us.”
Tags: Anger, Carl Poole, Church Planting, Essentials Church, Heritage, Matthew 5, The Factory, Wake Forest