Photo of an angry man available at:
goo.gl/pvdvA0

What happens when someone gets angry? Yes, they usually get red in the face, they look very unhappy; they talk fast in a loud voice, sometimes shouting. They may even strike out at another person. The man in this picture looks so mad he has steam coming out of his ears. It is not a pretty picture is it?

Have you ever said, “He or she makes me so angry”? Guess what. No one can make you angry but yourself. You have a choice. You are the only one who has the power to make yourself angry.

But wait a minute. “He or she just did this or that, hit me, called me a bad name, said a hurtful thing; did not want to play with me… I’m angry!”

We’ve all felt angry. It is normal and natural and there are times when we must act on our anger to protect ourselves or another person.

However what the Bible teaches, and what we must understand, is how to become “slow to anger.” We must learn not to act so fast. Take time to stop and think about what happened to cause this feeling. What really caused you to feel so angry? What do you want to do about it? You have many choices, you know.

Sometimes the best choice is to let go of your anger. When you hold on to anger you give the person who hurt you too much power.

Our Bible verse suggests this: ” let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger” (1:19).
Think about letting go of your anger – take your power back. Decide if you really want to feel angry or if you would rather feel peaceful. Most of the time, when we feel angry, it does not achieve God’s purpose.

Scripture quotations from the World English Bible

Copyright 2012, Richard Niell Donovan