Chasing Kindness
When your life is free of bitterness you have lots of room for kindness. Which would you rather have in your life?
We live in angry times. We see anger expressed most every day: driving on the highway, watching a drama on TV, or hearing the news. Some of us grew up in an angry home, where conflict never resolved and it escalated to anger. Others of us heard anger from the pulpit each week.
Even though the Bible never calls anger a sin, per se...often the way we express anger can be sinful. Scripture has a lot to say about anger, including how best to defuse our own anger as well as someone else’s—which shows that it can be done! Learning what’s behind our anger helps us unlock underlying emotions. And when the fear of anger is removed from a relationship, the freedom to work through conflict can produce immense satisfaction and understanding.
Let the Lord use these resources to help move your relationships toward unity as you seek to train this powerful emotion.
When your life is free of bitterness you have lots of room for kindness. Which would you rather have in your life?
All anger is not bad...and all conflicts are not wrong. But disagreements need to be expressed appropriately and at the right time.
When you imagine God’s face...what do you see? If you visualize anger, you’re wrong. All God’s anger at sin was poured on Christ at the cross. This means if you’re in Christ, you’re free from God’s wrath because of Christ’s death and resurrection.
Defiance affects everyone, no matter your age. And it traps you in your selfishness, stubbornness, indifference, resistance, and contempt. Why not get rid defiance and live according to God’s Word. “Good understanding produces favor, but the way of the treacherous is hard,” (Proverbs 13:15 NASB).
Anger never corrects itself. It never disappears...in fact the longer you leave it the stronger it grows. Confronting your anger is the best thing you can do to deal with it—confess it and let it go today. Don’t wait another moment.
There are five stages of anger: mild irritation, indignation, wrath, fury, and rage. While anger itself isn’t wrong, uncontrolled anger never results in anything good.
Learn from Pastor Chuck Swindoll as he carefully applies this passage to marriage and discusses the dangers of lying, unrighteous anger, theft, hurtful words, and lack of grace.
We tend to get angry when things don’t go the way we want. A good sense of humour can turn irritation into laughter. Next time things don’t go your way refuse to let your circumstances dampen your joy.
If you’re feeling discouraged instead of letting your circumstances feed your fear, focus on the Lord and trust, pray, and praise. Your circumstances may not change but through this process you will.
Anger is a God-given emotion and it’s not necessarily sinful. The Bible acknowledges that anger needs safeguards and teaches us how to control it.