Weekly Word
February
2004

As Christians, we still have to deal with anger. After all, we are just human and many things are not going to go our way in life. As a young man, anger usually controlled me. Fits of rage was part of my teenage years that I am not proud of today. These fits usually led to fights, hurt feelings, and often material damages. As I matured with God, anger lost it’s controlling factor.

First and foremost, as Christians, we have God the Holy Spirit within us to help deal with this issue. Glory! In the Bible, Galatians 5:23 teaches that temperance is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Temperance means self-control. In other words the Spirit of God in us will help us to gain self- control.

You cannot fix a problem until you know you have one. Once you learn you have a temper problem, it is wise to learn to detect the symptoms as they begin to come on you. As I learned to do this, anger soon lost it’s control over me. The energy that I had in my anger was channeled to other things so I actually became productive when I was angry instead of being destructive. 2 Cor:10:6: “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” What the devil had been doing to hurt my testimony for Christ, now was helping me show that Christ was in me. People close to me noticed that I had learned to control my temper instead of letting it control me.

Now days, when things anger me, I do my best to ask God to help me tune down the emotional frustration. I wash the car, trim my bushes and trees, clean my garage, and the productive list goes on and on as I turn my former destruction to production. More often than once while I am working out my emotional energies, an answer or solution comes to me about what I can do about the situation that angered me.