If you wish a working definition, then try this on from my sermon notes: Fundamentally, anger is a response to a threat, real or perceived, present or imagined. This threat, or disapproval, or betrayal, or deprivation, or manipulation, or exploitation or violence breaks into our world and our emotion arises.
At its inception, anger is just a natural response, an impulse, a warning light on the dashboard of life.
But then . . . . something happens. Like a good hollandaise sauce if left on the stove a moment too long, like a pass to the center delayed by a nanosecond—things can fall apart!
The emotion of anger begins to engage with our reason, our sense of “fairness,” or “rightness” our memories of past events, our own egos. It begins to brew something up and what it brews up—ain’t healthy!
Having said that the question still remains how we learn to act and live with restraint, gentleness, and patience toward others. For an answer, we might find it helpful to begin with God and the way in which God handles his own anger.
I’m not saying that we can necessarily emulate God. But it should be instructive to note that God’s anger always seems to be directed toward real injustice. And just as importantly, God deals with the injustice of the world (and His anger toward it all) in a single, decisive way. Through Jesus Christ, the source of anger, is resolved.
In other words, God got angry and did something about it. And because of the exercise of His anger, we are free to relinquish our anger. That’s good news!
See you Sunday.
