It happens to us all. We are minding our own business, and then all of the sudden, WHAM! It's like a flip is switched somewhere down deep in our beings, and it's a difficult thing to handle what comes next.
I'm talking about the emotional surging of anger that threatens to take us over when we, or someone we love, feels violated. It's a natural reaction - human nature, right? Right. Yet, if we are Believers in Christ, that "natural" reaction must be contained, or else the "Mama and Papa Bear" in us all might appear. And woe to the receiver of his or her bite!
Know what I mean?
Scripture speaks about anger frequently. For instance, Colossians 3:8 says, But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. James 1:20 explains further that man's anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
"Well, that's great, Belinda. But how in the world am I supposed to deal with this beast that lies within me?" I'm glad you asked. The answer lies in the latter part of II Corinthians 10:3-5: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Did you catch that? We become "Jailers" of our thought life.
We take captive or "grab hold" of EVERY thought and make it obedient to Christ.
Thoughts of aggression when someone breaks line in front of us - whether in a car or in line at the store, become prisoners of war. We choose to remove the poisonous angry thoughts and replace them with the thoughts of Christ, making them obedient to Him. Instead of spurting out words of disgust and anger, we choose to hold those not-so-nice thoughts behind the prison bars of our pearly whites. We choose to think, "Yes, you broke in front of me. Yes, you took my spot and disrespected my time. Yet, I will choose to forgive you, because I have been forgiven freely by Christ of sooo many wrongs myself. I will choose to love you, as Christ loved me. You are not my enemy. I will even pray for you. I pray that the Spirit will convict you of your wrongs and drive you to Jesus."
Talk about a life-changer! When we choose to do that - when we choose to change our thoughts and take them captive to make them obedient to Christ - our attitudes and our actions become those things which DO bring about the righteousness of Christ. We change. We become the example of Christ we so desperately desire.
The by-product of this type of life is spiritual fruit. People begin to take note of our patience when wronged. They wonder why we don't respond in the "natural way" - the way THEY would have.
Yes, we are human. Yes, we have sinful natures. Yes, we will become angry. Next time, though, let's choose to change things around a bit. The world is tired of seeing Mama and Papa Bear. They want to see something different...something unlike anything they've ever seen. They want to see someone different..SOMEONE like no one they've ever met. They want to see Christ, so let's keep our thoughts in check and show Him to them. Deal? Deal.
Father, it's so hard to control my anger. I pray You will help me. Help me take my thoughts captive before they destroy me and the ones around me. Thank You that You want this life-change in me, even more than I want it in myself. I love You, Father.
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