Anger & frustration are two very real emotions that effect everyone at one time or another. For the Christian, it’s just a matter of showing our humanness to the world. The world expects us to be perfect and judges us harshly if we’re not. But we are not perfect … far from it. At times like that I think we forget for the moment just who God is and who we are IN Him. While there is nothing wrong with being angry or frustrated in and of itself, if it festers, we start to have a problem. Our focus has shifted due to our circumstances. We have become Peter in the Sea of Galilee and we have begun to sink. Our problem is that we forget to reach out for Jesus.
It’s pretty incredible that with all the reading and listening to the word we do we still end up mired in the mess at times. But we ARE very much human. We are not all we can be. We are frail and broken. We allow ourselves to be unduly influenced by this corrupt, evil, sin-sick world. We allow ourselves to be fooled by the evil forces that have lined up against us. We too easily forget why God saved us … to positively influence this world for Him and in His name; to plant and water the seeds of salvation.
There are many verses in scripture that speak to the issue of personal anger. Having said that we have no doubt had a personal experience or two revealing that frustration can lead to anger and not having an outlet to vent your anger can lead to frustration. Paul tells the church brethren in Ephesus to “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) If Satan can trip you up in a weak area of your walk with Christ, he will take full advantage of it. A couple verses down from the above verses lie this: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32) Ah, that is the kill shot right there; “as God in Christ forgave you”. We have no rebuttal to that, no reply whatsoever. God forgave us at our worst, so who are we to judge ANYONE else? We mustn’t compare ourselves to others, but rather to God. This will reveal to us how desperate our situation truly is.
Paul’s letter to the Apostle James says the following: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, (and) slow to anger.”(James 1:19) So you see that scripture references anger quite a bit. There are many more, this was just a few. You’re certainly allowed to get angry, but you aren’t supposed to allow it to elevate to the point where you step over the line and become completely un-Christ-like. Vent your anger and/or frustration with a family member, a trusted friend or your Pastor to deflate the situation. I use the term “deflate” because it can be exactly like letting the air out of a balloon. Venting can be healthy … it can keep your blood pressure from rising to an unsafe level. Asking God to calm you down is a very appropriate prayer at a decisive moment. Allow the love Christ has for you to spill over and put out the fiery embers of anger and frustration, thus remaining a positive, Christ-like example to those you deal with each day. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.
In His name & for His glory,
Richard Keller
Bread of Life Ministries
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