Skip to main content

BE WISE IN HANDLING YOUR ANGER
(James 1:19-20; 4:1-2)
 
What is your view about anger? What are some bad experiences you have had for failing to control your anger?

Anger is a normal human emotional experience. Anger by itself may not be dysfunctional, but the way we express it can be worrying. The Bible never say anger is a sin, but Paul reminds us, “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” (Eph 4:26).

Anger is God-given energy intended to help us to solve problems. Anger will alarm us when something is not right. Expressing anger can be God-pleasing and constructive when our underlying motivation is to restore relationship, fight injustice, or battle evil. For example: Moses was in rage when he found the Israelites were worshipping the golden calf. Jesus was angry when the Jews defiled God’s temple in Jerusalem (John 2:12-18). Anger is destructive when it estrange our relationship with God and with other people and split the community.

Anger and culture
The Asian culture emphasize much on self-control and proper social behaviours. Unfortunately we often misconstrue propriety as a need to inhibit and suppress unpleasant emotions. We dare not express our anger openly or readily.

Some ways people normally deal with their anger:
Repressing or Suppressing Anger ~ Peace-faking
They deny and overlook some unpleasant and hurting experience pretending everything goes well.  Or they suppress and keep it to themselves. These are peace-faking and may lead the person to depression.

Exploding Anger~Peace-breaking
Exploding outwardly in aggressive ways, attacking other people or spreading rumours and gossips. . This is very destructive.  It’s a peace-breaking.

Confessing Anger~Peace-Making.
We need to acknowledge that we are upset, unhappy, and angry about something or certain people. We admit that we are angry. And talk about it. This is the first step to ‘peace-making.’

James reminds us, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” Learning to listen and slow to speak are some helps to handle our anger and give us time to acknowledge and express it in a constructive way.


Self-valuation, the way to handle our anger (James 4:1-2) “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight…” Most anger comes out from our own untamed desires. We need God’s grace to examine and to bring our concern to Him.

The Bible tells us, A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keep himself under control. Beware that we don’t let anger to control our lives, but may the Spirit of God control us and enable us to grow in gentleness and self-control, so that we won’t let anger estrange us from God and others

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kehendakku vs KehendakMu "Ya Bapa-Ku, jikalau Engkau mau, ambillah cawan ini dari pada-Ku; tetapi bukanlah kehendak-Ku, melainkan kehendak-Mulah yang terjadi." (Lukas 22:42) Mira adalah ukuran kebahagian yang diinginkan oleh banyak orang. Cantik, tamatan luar negeri, orang tua yang masih sehat dan cukup kaya. Usia masih tigapuluh lima , menikah dengan suami yang baik dengan karir yang mantap , dilengkapi dengan dua orang putri yang sehat dan pintar. P ersis di puncak ke hidupan ini, tiba-tiba suaminya, Hendra , divonis kanker tulang belakang. Tidak sampai setahun, ajal menjemput Hendra . Mira sang janda yang masih cukup muda ini harus menata kembali hidupnya tanpa suami. Belum setahun berselang, ayah Mira harus dilarikan ke rumah sakit karena serangan jantung dan ia pun tidak pernah kembali lagi ke rumah. Kembali Mira harus mengenakan kain kabungnya. Hanya beberapa bulan berselang, g ulungan awan k umulus kembali menyelimuti keluarga ini. Mira yang lincah dan cekatan, tiba-...
Post a Comment
Read more
Cuma itu yang bisa saya lakukan, hanya kehadiran saja Saya jadi teringat: Musa meminta kepada Tuhan, " if your presence (kehadiran) does not go with us, do not send us from here " ( jika Engkau sendiri tidak membimbing kami, janganlah menyuruh kami pergi dari tempat ini" (Kel 33:15) Kesibukan hidup menjadikan " kehadiran" menjadi sesuatu yg sulit kita berikan kepada orang lain, keluarga ( suami, istri, anak-anak, cucu2, atau orang tua) dan bahkan kepada Allah. Ironis, sama seperti Musa kita merindukan kehadiran Allah (hadiratNya) - kehadiran Roh Nya. Namun, apakah kita juga hadir di hadapanNya?  Ketika kita beribadah, baik sendiri maupun bersama-sama di gereja, apakah kita hadir di hadiratNya? secara jiwa, raga, hati, dan akal  budi? (Mar 12:30). Di hadapan orang-orang yang kita kasih? Ketika secara fisik kita hadir pun, perlu kita cek apakah Jiwa dan hati kita juga hadir di sana? Fenomena sekarang, ketika fisik sudah ...
1 comment
Read more
The Theology of Giving PL THE The practice of unity in the early Church is most evident in the sharing of resources among the believers. The early Church existed to assist unfortunate people. Early believers cared for the poor both inside and outside the church. The Church was known as the organization of alms. Emperor Julian was impressed with the church’s charity work and imitated the Christian community by establishing many hostels in each city to help less fortunate town’s people and strangers. In the late first and early second century, almsgiving was regarded as equal to repentance from sin and considered better than fasting and prayer. In the church the rich and the poor lived together as one body. The rich supplied the poor with material needs, and the poor prayed for the rich. Regarding structure, the early Church was a house church, which implies “the church is the place for life” and is a house for human relationship (Pongudom 126-28). The principle of sharing resources refl...
Post a Comment
Read more