Recovery Christian Center Daily Meditation - 4/23/12 - Consuming Anger

"And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil." Ephesians 4:26-27 NLT

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires." James 1:19-20 NLT

Anger in itself is a normal human emotion. We all get angry. It's when we allow anger to dictate our actions that it becomes consuming and dangerous. It is OK to be angry when some hurts us but if we endeavor to hurt them back that is sin. Retaliation is not just wrong because of the harm to the other person, but because of the harm it causes our spirit and our natural selves as well. Any doctor or mental health professional will tell you the dangers prolonged anger. It can lead to high blood pressure, migraines, heart attacks and strokes, and that's just the physical consequences.

For recovering Christians the anger and resentments can keep us from growing in our recovery and even open the door to relapse. As the text says,"anger gives the devil a foothold." It's an emotion we can't afford to dwell in for long.

The passage from the Book of James also cautions us about listening before we speak. How many of us have found ourselves being angry over a miscommunication or a misunderstanding. We're not angry over what they said but what we thought they said. A lot of the time if we had just engaged our brain before we engaged our mouth we would have been OK but we caused harm because we didn't think and we didn't listen.

It's time pray for God's guidance in letting go of consuming anger and demonstrating more of His love.