Thoughts on Anger

Dear Friends,

Today’s “thought” is actually a list of nineteen individual 'thoughts' having to do with anger - an emotion we all wrestle with. In fact, my adult class in Honduras (filled with mostly 20-30 year olds) listed anger as their biggest struggle next to lust. So, I did a 4 month class on each! At one point I was even asked by the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa to share some of that material there (the material on anger and not lust)!

Therefore, I simply offer you some thoughts on anger that I use, since the topic came up again this week in my adult class on Spiritual Warfare, where we considered how harboring anger “gives a foothold to the devil.” (Eph. 4:26). Enjoy.

“Anger is never without reason, but seldom with a good one.”
Benjamin Franklin

“God is not sinful. God is sometimes angry. Therefore, anger cannot always be sinful.”
Garret Keizer

“We must always be careful when as sinners we justify our anger as being ‘righteous.’ Jesus did exhibit ‘righteous’ anger, yet it’s helpful to remember He alone was perfectly righteous.”

“He who fights with monsters must take care lest he thereby becomes a monster.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

“G. K. Chesterton once entered into an essay contest which offered a monetary prize to the person who could write in 5000 words or less the best response to the question: “What is wrong with the world?” Chesterton won the contest with a four-word answer: “Dear Sirs, I am.” Where it is that we place all the blame will determine in great measure the depth and degree of our anger.”

“The wise and foolish are distinguishable by how they get angry.”
David Powlison

“It is not anger itself that is sinful, but what we do with it. ‘In your anger do not sin…’”

“Given how often we see anger exhibited by Christians, we might mistakenly think it was a fruit of the Spirit.”

“I sometimes get very angry at God, and I do not feel guilty about it, because the anger is an affirmation of faith. You cannot get angry at someone who is not there.”
Madeline L’Engle

“The person who angers you controls you.”

“I have no more right as a Christian to allow a bad temper to dwell in me than I have to allow the devil himself to dwell in me.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon

“Speak when you are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.”
Ambrose Bierce

“Never be upset for failing to receive what you never asked for, or unmet needs you never expressed.”

“The roots of anger are almost always found in some kind of pain… when anger is present, look for the pain.”
R.C. Sproul

“Anger ought to be redemptive rather than destructive.”
Kenneth Swetland

“I cannot control what another person says or does, but I can control how I react to them.”

“One of the great diminishers of anger is humility, because humility includes taking responsibility for our part in whatever issue makes us angry. When we convince ourselves that we are 100% innocent, and the other person is 100% at fault, it is like gasoline thrown onto a fire. The damage can be quite significant.”

“To own our responsibility in any angry interchange, even if we think it to be only 20% or 30%, has a way of quenching its intensity level. We need to remember that anger between friends, spouses, or acquaintances, is rarely 100% their fault and 0% ours.”

“Giving yourself unrestrained permission to be angry at someone is like racing a car downhill at full speed with the brake lines cut. It is never a wise thing to do.”

I hope you found some of these thoughts on anger helpful. In an age where we see so many expressions of out-of-control anger, it would benefit us to call these thoughts to mind – especially when we are tempted to join in.

Living in His All-sufficient Grace, Pastor Jeff