What causes anger?
 

Living Free Every Day®

Today's Scripture
"Sensible people control their temper; they earn respect by overlooking wrongs." Proverbs 19:11 NLT

Thoughts for Today
What causes anger? In reality, the answer could be "nothing." We might think that a rude driver or unfair criticism or a friend's betrayal angers us, but the anger is actually our own doing. It is our response that creates the anger.

Many factors can stimulate anger. Behavior we learned in childhood, a stressful work environment, poor health or medicines we take can cause our temper to flare more easily ... but only if we allow them to.

Consider this…
When someone insults us or treats us badly, we can choose how to respond. If we have feelings of anger, we can choose how to express that anger. God has given us free will to control our feelings, thoughts and actions. Will we choose unkind words or finding a way to "get even" ... or will we overlook and forgive? It's our choice. No matter what our background or the current circumstances, we are responsible for our own behavior.

None of us express our feelings appropriately all the time. But the Bible tells us, "For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need." (Philippians 4:13 NLT) Jesus can help us make anger our servant instead of our master.

Prayer…
Father, when I am wronged in some way, help me to choose the right response ... the one that is pleasing to you. Teach me to overlook and forgive. In Jesus' name ...

Nothing is the right answer, most times it is not getting our own way or things aren't working out the way we want them to.

My anger was often self inflicted and internalized, I didn't verbalize it and just shut it down pretending it was nothing to me, when in fact it festered inside until something came along and it blew, often all out of proportion. And what made you angry, isn't the anger of today, but the strings attached to the past.

Under anger, there is generally a lot of hurt, resentment, abandonment, insecurities and a false sense of worth and self-esteem. That is why they say anger is a danger.

Anger is a feeling like everything else, it is okay to feel it, it is what you do with it that matters. Hopefully expressed in a healthy way without hurting yourself or others.

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