Anger is a Gift From God

There is something about anger that makes Christians really uncomfortable. And fair enough. Anger, like any emotion, if handled poorly can cause significant harm to yourself and to those around you.

What Christians have forgotten, however, is that ignoring, pushing down, or bottling up anger is just as dangerous as indulging in it or blindly allowing it to dictate what you do and what you say.

With every client I have worked with, anger has been a problem.

Men generally feel like they have to squelch their anger, fearing their dangerous side.

Women generally feel ashamed of their anger when it is aimed at a parent, their husband, or, worst of all (in their mind) their children.

So they bottle it up or try to ignore it which only serves to turn an annoying gnat-sized problem into a dragon causing significant obstacles to giving and receiving love.

But anger is a gift from God.

It's a motivating emotion that can give you the strength to demand that others treat you with the dignity God created you for.

It can be the emotion that fuels a steadfast refusal to entertain sin in your life or in the life of someone you love.

It's often the emotion that grants you the courage to do what's right when the consequences for doing so are scary.

For a long time in my life, I believed anger was a malfunction. As if a holier version of myself wouldn't have anger. But that kind of thinking just resulted in massive amounts of resentment building up over time.

When I finally looked at my anger with curiosity and compassion, I discovered the gift it could be in my life.

What's your relationship with anger? How uncomfortable does it make you feel?