I am asking myself the question, "is it ok to get mad?" or more to the point "when is it ok to be angry?"
I have struggled with anger and bitterness most of my life. As far back as I can remember I had a problem with anger. My temper has gotten me in tough spots more times than I can count. From getting mad and punching doors and walls to picking fights with people that I never should have to hurting those that I love. I can honestly say that I feel like I am improving but it can take just one slip and I feel like I am tumbling back down the hill into the pit of anger.
I feel like anger and its root, bitterness, is a chain. A heavy and cumbersome chain that can not be broken by anyone other than God. It is like a cancer that infects every part of life.
How do you break this chain?
I can tell you how I am working to break this chain called anger and bitterness. It takes a humble attitude, prayer, and accountability to break the chains of anger and bitterness.
The book of James tells us in Chapter 1 verses 19 &20 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."
Being quick to hear basically means to keep your mouth shut and your ears open. I have always heard that was why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. We should do double the listening that we do and twice as less the talking that we do.
How often do we say something that will throw us into a tailspin and set us off? The words that are used can cut sharper than any two edged sword. Words are deadly arrows that plant the seed of bitterness. While at the time we may not realize that what we said was critical or hurtful, most times it is not what we said but how we said it. I find myself saying something at times that might have seemed quite harmless to me but was quite hurtful to the person that I was speaking. Guard the words of your mouth, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. Check the attitude of your heart before you create a "seed of bitterness" through your words.
Being slow to anger is impossible unless you are in the Holy Spirit. As a man I can not hope to control the chain of anger that I carry. Only through God and the Holy Spirits' presence in my life can I ever hope to control my temper and respond in a right way.
People have said to me, "well Jesus got angry, you know when he flipped the tables in the temple!" My response to that is "Jesus had every right to be angry! Men had set up His Fathers house as a market and defiled a place of Holy Worship!" Jesus was Holy from the time he was born and is still Holy. I am a man, I am nothing without Christ. I am worthless without my Lord and Savior. Jesus sacrifice made a way for the chain of bitterness and anger to not only be cast off but to broken completely. The chains that was fashion as men pass on to our children and our children's children.
I for one want to break this chain so my son's and daughter's never have to suffer from the pain and regret that comes with making it.
So as I close, I am still working to break the chains that bind me, working through the reading of God's word, prayer, and accountability.
I would ask that those that read my blog please remember me in prayer in regards to the chains of anger and bitterness because as my sainted grandfather used to plainly say "I need the prayer and you need the practice!"
I have struggled with anger and bitterness most of my life. As far back as I can remember I had a problem with anger. My temper has gotten me in tough spots more times than I can count. From getting mad and punching doors and walls to picking fights with people that I never should have to hurting those that I love. I can honestly say that I feel like I am improving but it can take just one slip and I feel like I am tumbling back down the hill into the pit of anger.
I feel like anger and its root, bitterness, is a chain. A heavy and cumbersome chain that can not be broken by anyone other than God. It is like a cancer that infects every part of life.
How do you break this chain?
I can tell you how I am working to break this chain called anger and bitterness. It takes a humble attitude, prayer, and accountability to break the chains of anger and bitterness.
The book of James tells us in Chapter 1 verses 19 &20 "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."
Being quick to hear basically means to keep your mouth shut and your ears open. I have always heard that was why God gave us two ears and only one mouth. We should do double the listening that we do and twice as less the talking that we do.
How often do we say something that will throw us into a tailspin and set us off? The words that are used can cut sharper than any two edged sword. Words are deadly arrows that plant the seed of bitterness. While at the time we may not realize that what we said was critical or hurtful, most times it is not what we said but how we said it. I find myself saying something at times that might have seemed quite harmless to me but was quite hurtful to the person that I was speaking. Guard the words of your mouth, THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK. Check the attitude of your heart before you create a "seed of bitterness" through your words.
Being slow to anger is impossible unless you are in the Holy Spirit. As a man I can not hope to control the chain of anger that I carry. Only through God and the Holy Spirits' presence in my life can I ever hope to control my temper and respond in a right way.
People have said to me, "well Jesus got angry, you know when he flipped the tables in the temple!" My response to that is "Jesus had every right to be angry! Men had set up His Fathers house as a market and defiled a place of Holy Worship!" Jesus was Holy from the time he was born and is still Holy. I am a man, I am nothing without Christ. I am worthless without my Lord and Savior. Jesus sacrifice made a way for the chain of bitterness and anger to not only be cast off but to broken completely. The chains that was fashion as men pass on to our children and our children's children.
I for one want to break this chain so my son's and daughter's never have to suffer from the pain and regret that comes with making it.
So as I close, I am still working to break the chains that bind me, working through the reading of God's word, prayer, and accountability.
I would ask that those that read my blog please remember me in prayer in regards to the chains of anger and bitterness because as my sainted grandfather used to plainly say "I need the prayer and you need the practice!"
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