Anger - Let It Out

Unexpressed anger is one letter short of danger.

The scriptures have a lot to say about the importance of expressed anger. Jesus taught that expressing our anger helps us avoid calling someone a name or even killing them. In fact, Jesus thought it was so important to express our anger, especially to the one with whom we are angry, that he said our gift to God is not acceptable until we have given opportunity for the anger to be expressed and resolved (Matthew 5:21-26).

That apostle Paul thought expressing our anger was so important that he wrote in his letter to the church at Ephesus (4:26-27):

Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.

Though Christians should be the model for expressing anger in appropriate ways, we often follow the world’s model. Some of us express our anger in a sort of ready fire aim way. We let it out without first checking to see if the reason for our anger is valid and the person to whom we are expressing it is the correct person. This kind of anger can lead to insulting another person (Matthew 5:21).

Another way some of us deal with anger is to simply get quiet and have everyone around us guess what’s wrong with us. We give the person with whom we are angry the cold shoulder. Of course, if they don’t pick up on it we get even angrier at them for not sensing that we are angry with them to begin with. Letting our anger be expressed through silence makes us liable to judgment (Matthew 5:22)

And if we let our anger explode we can do the worst possible thing—call another person a fool or worse and be liable to hell (Matthew 5:22). Explosive anger can alienate us from our families, our co-workers and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The bottom line: go to the person directly with whom we are angry or go the person directly who we think is angry with us. In so doing our anger keeps everyone out of danger.

Prayer
Gracious God if there is anger within me this day against another, or if I know of someone who bears anger toward me, grant me grace and courage to share it or receive it lest my soul and the soul of another be lost to receiving and sharing your love through Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Mac Hamon, Senior Pastor
Castleton United Methodist Church
Indianapolis, Indiana