Anger == Danger

This week my posts have centered around the idea that the love that God’s grace produces is proved as much by what we don’t do as it is by what we do do. 1 Peter 1:22 (NIV) says, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. To love like that, he tells us that we need to rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind (1 Peter 2:1 (NIV). In order to love each other sincerely, deeply, and from the heart, we need to be working to get rid of the things that impedes God’s love from working in us and flowing out from us.
This doesn’t just happen. This is work that we need to be committed to doing consciously, continuously, and consistently, until we have removed them completely. One of the main things that impedes our being able to love one another the way Jesus loves us is anger.
Last night, my friend Michelle Styles wrote an excellent post on her own struggle with anger. While her anger began with good reason, because her anger continued unchecked, it ended up doing a lot of harm. It has literally taken her years get to the place where she can begin to face and begin to repair the damage her anger caused herself, her family, and her friends.
I am very grateful to have Michelle’s permission to share her experience with you. We would do well to listen to her and learn from her experience. Her testimony is a great testament to the truth of James 1:19-20, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”