Proverbs 30:33 7/9/2019*

“For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife."

This verse could not be more clear. Anger causes problems…period.

If you google human anger in the bible you will not find a single verse that puts a positive spin on it. Yet we flirt with this emotion daily. 

Our society condones it. We dress it up with words like “passionate” and “fervent”, but it is just run of the mill anger and it causes trouble.

Most of us have never done anything in anger that we are proud of…and yet we cannot count the times it has caused us to do things for which we are ashamed.

Simply put anger makes fools of us and causes conflict.

How many times have you heard a woman angrily snap at her child in the grocery store and thought “what a great mom?” …or overheard a man being rude to his wife in a restaurant and thought “what a good leader”?

Never, right? …Yet when we are angry, we think we are righteous messengers delivering truth to those who need correction. That’s a lie…

We look as stupid as everyone else does when we are controlled by rage…and the results are often devastating.

So why tolerate it?  If there is a snake in my house, I destroy it…yet I allow this poisonous emotion into my home daily… it doesn’t make sense.

So, lets change that… view anger for what it is…a deadly emotion that can ruin your life just as quickly as drugs, alcohol or any other addiction.  The first step in ending these compulsions is to admit you have a problem and do something about it.

Realize that rage deceives you. It is a seductive flaw that disguises selfishness as righteousness and takes control of your mind. Recognize it and reject it.

Begin your “anger sobriety” program today and take it one day at a time. You will be tempted but refrain.  Pray specifically and continually. The longer you resist anger, the less power it will have over you and eventually you can be free of its control.

Change takes action so let’s get started …” My name is ________ and I have a problem with anger.”

Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured. - Mark Twain