Three Anger Management
Principles from Jesus
You have heard that it was said to those of
ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to
judgment.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you
will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be
liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool,” you will be liable to the
hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember
that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there
before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and
then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while
you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the
judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I
tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
We all get angry. And of course, some things
should make us angry! Injustice, abuse, deceit, betrayal. But anger comes at a
price. Anger floods the body with stress hormones, and blood races from our
core to our muscles preparing us to attack or to escape. Anger can lead to
depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, eczema, heart attack, stroke, and
that’s just a partial list.
Phineas Gage had a problem with anger. But he
had a good excuse. It had to do with the three-foot seven-inch long steel rod
that had blown through one side of his head and out the other in a construction
accident in 1848. He survived but as an angry man. It seems that without a
left frontal lobe to his brain, there was little left to manage his anger.
According to some sources, he never regained control of his emotions after the
accident.
We all need help with our anger. Anger is
serious enough that Jesus goes so far as to associate it with murder. And just
to illustrate how serious Jesus is about it, he says that failure to manage
your anger will result in the fires of hell and unrelenting imprisonment.
So here are Jesus’ three anger management
principles. First, be careful what you say when you are angry. Don’t insult
people. Don’t speak contemptuously of others. Words really are as deadly as
sticks and stones.
Second, don’t bury your anger. Jesus uses an
interesting picture here of a religious person going to church to offer a
sacrifice instead of facing his anger. Sometimes Jesus’ disciples are the ones
who have the hardest time facing anger because it seems so … unChristian.
Finally, don’t waste time leaving it up to
others to manage your anger. Make friends quickly, or they will hand you over
to others . As the old saying goes, "If you have to eat crow, you
might as well eat it while it’s fresh.”
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