Everyone is angry. It's not that anger cannot be an emotion that can move us in the right direction or right a terrible wrong. Unchecked anger is what I'm talking about. Anger without boundaries coats our politics, flavors our school board meetings, and poses as the uninvited guest at family dinner. We are ticked. We mercilessly spew our rage at the driver who cut us off on the highway, the callers who disagree with us on our talk radio programs, and the spouse who just won't do right.
Anger throbs in the hearts of Christians who pummel with the ferocity of hell those who have abortions or choose same-sex unions. The intent may be to bring people into alignment with Scripture, but they use the fist of Satan to inspire the obedience of Jesus. Our anger curdles like sour milk and reeks of rottenness. I have wondered at my own anger and the wrath seething on television programs and throughout the blogosphere. It's like we have supped with the devil and brought home poisoned leftovers.
I don't expect those who do not know Christ to curb their rage. They need God's intervention to see truth. To expect the world to do differently than it does is like expecting Tony Soprano to actually renounce killing forever. You need a revelation from God to follow kindness, peacefulness, and love.
But I do call on the church to check the level of its rage. Not all of our anger is righteous indignation, as Christians like to declare. Much of our anger is the refuse of inner issues left untended in our lives. The Bible tells us to be angry but sin not, and we have not obeyed that instruction. The sun has gone down many times on our anger. We accommodate anger, as if it were an admirable quality, a selling point, or a competitive sport.
In the church of Jesus Christ the Lord, this should not be. Unchecked anger blinds us. Anger obscures the view of heaven and lessens its power in our lives.
Judy Howard Ellis
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