“But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.” Col 3:8

Have you ever been angry? It’s a battle that we all experience to some extent in our life time. It comes naturally in the sin nature to varying degrees. My wife has a very low propensity toward anger. However, in my case it was evident very early in life that I was going to have to deal with anger management. When I was about five years old my parents had moved into a new home. I was hammering nails into a piece of wood. On the downswing of the hammer I struck my thumb. I became angry because it hurt, so I swung the hammer again with greater fury and struck my thumb a second time. That kind of anger the Bible describes with the word ‘thumos’, meaning an outburst of wrath. It quickly arises and dissipates. In my thumb hammering case, the anger subsided very quickly as the pain took over.

A second type of anger the Bible speaks of is that which is a more settled and abiding condition. It is the word ‘orge’. Frequently it has a view toward revenge. (Vine’s Expository Dictionary) Jesus was angered at the Jewish leadership because of the hardness of their hearts, for they wanted to destroy Him because He healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath.  (Mark 3:1-6)  His anger was more abiding toward them because of their unrepentant heart. Of course in Jesus’ case it was righteous anger – “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” Romans 12:19

For us humans, anger is a problem – both inside and outside the church. Sometimes it is connected with bitterness and results in quarreling and injurious speech to another’s good name. For that reason Paul instructed the church at Ephesus, “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” Eph 4:31,32  And he included both types of anger – outburst and abiding anger. Rather than be angry at a brother/sister in the Lord we are to be tenderhearted, literally of good heartedness. Having a good hearted disposition toward others will lead naturally to an attitude of forgiveness. Can you imagine how effective the church would be if we followed these words?! 

Do you struggle with anger? God wants to develop you into a tenderhearted person, but you have to be willing to ask Him for the help to change this area of your life. One way to start is to meditate on the words of Scripture, “…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:19,20  What’s the desire of your heart? Is it to fulfill the desires of the flesh or is it to produce the righteousness of God in your life? Certainly only He can do that through you. But you must be willing to yield to Him and allow Him to change you to produce the fruits of righteousness. Then you will have true anger management.