How Do You Control Your Anger? Part Three

Ephesians 4: 26, 27 & 30 – 32

        Begin by knowing what anger is. It is a negative emotion that is aroused when our self-centered position is threatened. It is a defense mechanism that produces thoughts contrary to the will of God. 

        Realize most angry people refuse to take responsibility for their own actions and blame others.

         To control your anger, play a little game called “Who Is In Control Here?”  Is Christ going to be allowed to control you or is some person or circumstance?  Predetermine that Christ will control you. To control your anger, admit you are capable of it – Rom 3:23.

        Put a time limit on your anger. Ephesians 4:26 says handle anger immediately: “Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath…” If a splinter or thorn is left in a finger, it festers and becomes a worse sore. The best thing to do is get it out at once. The same is true of anger.

        An old Latin proverb notes: “”He who goes to bed angry has the devil for a bed-fellow.” Never take your enemies to bed with you.

        Don’t “give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:27). This is done by trying to justify your anger. It is aided by attempting to excuse it under the guise of righteous indignation. Don’t respond in the devil’s way. Always respond in God’s way.

        Realize there is an alternative. “Above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins” (I Peter 4:8).

        Resolve to “…be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4: 32).

        Charles Spurgeon and Joseph Parker were two outstanding preachers who ministered in London at the same time in the late 19th Century. Parker once commented on the poor condition of the children admitted to Spurgeon’s orphanage. The word got twisted by the time it got to Spurgeon, and it was reported to him that Parker criticized the orphanage itself. 

        Spurgeon’s fiery temperament vented itself from his pulpit the next Sunday as he blasted Parker. The press picked up on this and blew it out of proportion.

        The next Sunday Parker’s church was packed with people who came to hear his attack on Spurgeon. Parker said, “I understand Dr. Spurgeon is not in his pulpit today, and this is the Sunday they use to take an offering for the orphanage. I suggest we take a love offering here for the orphanage.”

        The crowd was delighted. Ushers had to empty the plates three times.

        Later that same week, there was a knock at Parker’s study door. It was Spurgeon who said, “You know, Parker, you have practiced grace on me. You gave me not what I deserved; you gave me what I needed.”  Joseph Parker practiced Eph. 4: 32.

        As a youth my mom gave me the following on a slip of paper which I carried in my wallet till it wore out: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15: 1).