Anger

I was putting food out for the birds this morning, when there was suddenly an angry chorus of twittering in the hedge – sparrows again! They are social birds, liking to nest close to one another, but they often seem to have furious arguments which are then over as quickly as they begin.

It would be good if we could settle our differences as quickly as the sparrows! We are often told that “Christians shouldn’t be angry”, but we all feel angry sometimes, and even Jesus expressed anger on occasions when He saw injustices occurring (Matthew 23: 22 – 27, John 2: 14 - 16).

It’s not wrong to feel angry, but how should we behave? One man, who had been in business for many years, said that he and his colleagues sometimes differed sharply on certain matters and they had an argument which was then quickly settled – like the sparrows – but that sometimes in Christian gatherings, the differences had been just as sharp, but because people felt their anger shouldn’t be expressed, it was all bottled up and seethed away for months, causing resentment and broken relationships.

We need to learn how to deal with our anger – by forgiving those who hurt us, or with whom we disagree, and then letting the matter rest with Jesus. Easy to say, difficult to do, but we need to take a lesson from the sparrows and not allow our anger to fester.

Prayer: Dear Father God, please forgive me that I get angry sometimes, not always justifiably. I pray that You will encourage me to deal with the anger as quickly as possible and release the after effects to Jesus. In His precious Name I ask it, Amen.