Matthew 5:22-25 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca, {22 An Aramaic term of contempt} ‘is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over.
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant (literally pissed off) and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Anger is a weird thing. Anger is natural; we all have it, even Jesus. Anger manifests itself through the physical, verbal, or internal and all three have extreme emotional charge. There are 1,000 murders in the workplace, and a million people are injured in the workplace by violent attacks from co-workers. Anger is caused when your expectancies are violated. Very few ever get free from anger. This is why I strongly advise we all need to have a youth ministry teaching topic or series that directly address anger. Our adolescents are really angry and some of their anger is warranted.
My question is: what do we do with the human emotion of anger?
Traditionally, American evangelicalism has told us to turn it off and to suppress it. Or to pray about it and ask God to remove anger from within us. The problem is: God put anger there for a reason. Anger produces a fire and fuel that converts into direction, motivation, and passion. The question is what are we doing with this fuel and fire?
Do you think we could somehow channel the energy and passion that is involved with anger into something good?
Aristotle believed that we could. He acknowledged that all have anger and struggle with it. He concluded we need redirect our negative anger expression and convert our anger emotion into doing a higher good and purpose. I think a virtuous and sanctified person is a person how who still gets angry, but knows how to control and channel their anger into something that is beneficial, purposeful and comes with impact and force.
Bottom line we all get mad, but what are we getting mad about? It is funny we all get mad at the things that really don’t matter, but aren’t getting mad at the things that really do matter.
