{"id":4454,"date":"2019-02-28T08:10:47","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nafwb.org\/?p=4454"},"modified":"2019-02-28T08:10:47","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T14:10:47","slug":"anger-one-letter-from-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/anger-one-letter-from-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Anger: One Letter from Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Part seven of an eleven-part series on \u201cHabits of Highly Successful People\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Habit #6 \u2013 A Successful Person Knows How to Control His Temper<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kevin Riggs
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

My children play video games, but I monitor what they play and how often.\u00a0 I admit, however, there is one thing that happens when my son plays certain games that causes\u00a0me to twinge a little. Periodically the\u00a0game will not go the way he wants,\u00a0and out of frustration he will say to no\u00a0one in particular, “Oh man, l got killed,”\u00a0or, “I’m going to kill you.” There is\u00a0something about hearing the word\u00a0“killed” that makes me uncomfortable.<\/p>\n

The Sixth Commandment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Commandment Six reads. “Thou\u00a0shalt not kill.” The Hebrew literally\u00a0says, “No unlawful killing.” The prohibition\u00a0is killings that violate justice,\u00a0premeditated killing, or killing with\u00a0malice and forethought, murder.<\/p>\n

Commandments One through Five\u00a0make me uncomfortable because I\u00a0know I am guilty of breaking them.\u00a0But this Commandment is different. I\u00a0read this Commandment and start to\u00a0relax, thinking, “Finally a Commandment\u00a0I have not broken . . . or have I?”\u00a0I have kept the letter of the law, but\u00a0have I kept the spirit behind the law?<\/p>\n

The Sixth Commandment teaches\u00a0that all of life is precious, but human\u00a0life is priceless. Every human being\u2014 regardless\u00a0of age, race, intelligence,\u00a0health, ability to contribute to society\u00a0or criminal record\u2014is created in the\u00a0image of God. \u00a0I am not an animal,\u00a0and neither are my ancestors! We all\u00a0are people in whom God Himself has\u00a0breathed life.\u00a0 Therefore, human life\u00a0is to be treated with highest respect.<\/p>\n

Habit #6<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone agrees\u2014at least in theory\u2014that the willful, premeditated, unjust\u00a0taking of another human life is\u00a0wrong. If this were all Commandment\u00a0Six had in mind, I would be home free,\u00a0but there is more behind this Commandment than murder.\u00a0 What habit of\u00a0a highly successful person can be\u00a0drawn from the Sixth Commandment?<\/p>\n

The answer is found from the\u00a0words of Jesus, “Ye have heard that it\u00a0was said by them of old time, Thou\u00a0shalt not kill: and whosoever shall kill\u00a0shall be in danger of the judgment But\u00a0I say unto you, That whosoever is angry\u00a0with his brother without a cause\u00a0shall be in danger of the judgment and\u00a0whosoever shall say to his brother,\u00a0Raca, shall be in danger of the council:\u00a0but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,\u00a0shall be in danger of hell fire.”<\/p>\n

Based on Jesus’ words, the sixth\u00a0habit is as follows: A highly successful\u00a0person knows how to control his temper<\/em>.\u00a0Proverbs warns, ‘A fool uttereth\u00a0all his mind: but a wise man keepeth\u00a0it in till afterwards.” \u00a0An old Chinese\u00a0proverb states, “The fastest horse cannot\u00a0catch a word spoken in anger.”\u00a0I can’t count the number of times\u00a0my anger has killed<\/em>the spirit of a\u00a0family member, friend or coworker. I\u00a0can think of numerous times my spirit\u00a0has been murdered<\/em>by someone’s\u00a0anger towards me.<\/p>\n

The Truth about Anger<\/strong><\/p>\n

I know what you are thinking because\u00a0I thought the same thing: “Uncontrolled\u00a0anger is bad, but how can\u00a0it be equated with murder?” Ephesians\u00a04:26-27 gives guidance to understanding\u00a0how.<\/p>\n

Anger, in and of itself, is not a sin. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ephesians says, “ln your anger do\u00a0not sin.” Anger is an emotion given\u00a0by God that can motivate me to do\u00a0what needs to be done. God expresses\u00a0anger toward sin. \u00a0Jesus became\u00a0angry when people turned the church\u00a0into a marketplace. God cannot sin,\u00a0and Jesus did not sin in His anger.<\/p>\n

My problem is that while anger is not\u00a0a sin, I usually sin in my anger. \u00a0When I\u00a0don’t control my temper, it becomes\u00a0easy for me to lash out in anger, saying\u00a0things I don’t mean, killing the other person\u00a0with my words. The anger may not\u00a0be a sin, but the way I respond when angry\u00a0can quickly become a sin.<\/p>\n

Settle the issue immediately. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Have you ever gotten angry with\u00a0someone and gone to bed angry?\u00a0What happened? If you are like me,\u00a0you didn’t get a good night’s sleep,\u00a0then woke up irritable and grouchy.\u00a0That is why Paul wrote, “Let not the\u00a0sun go down upon your wrath.”<\/p>\n

In other words, when I feel myself\u00a0becoming angry, l need to resolve the issue\u00a0as soon as possible. This doesn’t\u00a0mean I say the first thing that comes to\u00a0my mind and overreact. What it means\u00a0is that need to take time to cool off, regain\u00a0my composure and then express\u00a0my anger in a calm, acceptable manner.<\/p>\n

Easier said than done, I know. But\u00a0anger is like a ball submerged in water:\u00a0I cannot keep it down forever.\u00a0Sooner or later it will surface, and if it\u00a0is not constrained, it will explode to\u00a0the top. When angry, I need to resolve\u00a0the situation quickly to keep my anger\u00a0from turning into bitterness and hatred,\u00a0two well-known sins.<\/p>\n

Satan uses anger to destroy relationships.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bible says, “Neither give place to\u00a0the devil.” When I fly off the handle,\u00a0saying things I don’t mean, and then\u00a0don’t seek immediate resolution choosing\u00a0to let things simmer and boil, Satan\u00a0will use that opportunity to step in and\u00a0destroy my relationship with the other\u00a0person. My goal is reconciliation, not\u00a0blame casting or argument winning.<\/p>\n

Jesus said, “Therefore, if thou bring\u00a0thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest\u00a0that thy brother hath ought\u00a0against thee; Leave there thy gift before\u00a0the altar, and go thy way; first be\u00a0reconciled to thy brother, and then\u00a0come and offer thy gift.”<\/p>\n

Jesus taught that it doesn’t matter if\u00a0I was the one who did the offending\u00a0or if I was the one who was offended,\u00a0it is always my responsibility to take\u00a0the first step toward reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Reconciliation starts with sincere,\u00a0complete, heartfelt forgiveness. Even\u00a0though I may never forget what the\u00a0other person did or said, true forgiveness\u00a0doesn’t bring up the past, reopening\u00a0old wounds. This type of forgiveness\u00a0is as much for my sanity as\u00a0for the person whom I am forgiving.\u00a0When I refuse to forgive, I murder the\u00a0relationship, and the Sixth Commandment\u00a0states, “Thou shalt not murder.”<\/p>\n

When I am guilty of losing my temper,\u00a0my only recourse is to repent,\u00a0asking God to forgive me. I may also\u00a0need to go and ask forgiveness from\u00a0the person I have offended. If someone\u00a0has offended me, it is still my response\u00a0to seek reconciliation. I need\u00a0to remember to attack the problem\u00a0not the person, and to express my\u00a0anger in an appropriate way.<\/p>\n

Maybe the reason Jesus equated\u00a0anger with murder was because\u00a0anger, left uncontrolled, is the first step\u00a0toward murder. Have you ever in the\u00a0heat of anger said, “I could just kill\u00a0you?” or, “l wish you were dead?” Even\u00a0though you didn’t mean it, you can see\u00a0how anger and murder are connected.\u00a0Anger is just one letter short of danger.<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself a success?\u00a0Do you know how to control\u00a0your temper? Are you guilty of breaking\u00a0the Sixth Commandment? Do you\u00a0need to repent?<\/p>\n

Article adapted from Contact<\/em>magazine, July 2002<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Part seven of an eleven-part series on \u201cHabits of Highly Successful People\u201d Habit #6 \u2013 A Successful Person Knows How to Control His Temper By Kevin Riggs My children play video games, but I monitor what they play and how often.\u00a0 I admit, however, there is one thing that happens when my son plays certain games that causes\u00a0me to twinge a little. Periodically the\u00a0game will not go the way he wants,\u00a0and out of frustration he will say to no\u00a0one in particular, “Oh man, l got killed,”\u00a0or, “I’m going to kill you.” There is\u00a0something about hearing the word\u00a0“killed” that makes me uncomfortable. The Sixth Commandment Commandment Six reads. “Thou\u00a0shalt not kill.” The Hebrew literally\u00a0says, “No unlawful killing.” The prohibition\u00a0is killings that violate justice,\u00a0premeditated killing, or killing with\u00a0malice and forethought, murder. Commandments One through Five\u00a0make me uncomfortable because I\u00a0know I am guilty of breaking them.\u00a0But this Commandment is different. I\u00a0read this Commandment and start to\u00a0relax, thinking, “Finally a Commandment\u00a0I have not broken . . . or have I?”\u00a0I have kept the letter of the law, but\u00a0have I kept the spirit behind the law? The Sixth Commandment teaches\u00a0that all of life is precious, but human\u00a0life is priceless. Every human being\u2014 regardless\u00a0of age, race, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pastors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4455,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4454\/revisions\/4455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}