Get A Grip Series

“Making Life Work” – Pt. 9

Manage Anger

What is it that gets you mad? I’m sure that for each person here there is one thing that really pushes your buttons, really gets your goat and really makes you mad. I recently read the results of an Internet poll that asked people the question, “What gets you mad?” Listen to how some people around the country responded when they were asked this question. These answers come from a website that deals with the subject of anger.

I am angry because I can’t stand people that cut me off when there is not another car behind me!! That’s not all either, the bad part is!!! They turn DONT turn their blinker on and go off on the next exit right up the road. So why cant they just wait till I pass. Does this make sense?? I THINK NOT!!!!!

I am angry when parents don’t take time to teach kids to RESPECT other people NOT saying all kids are disrespectful, but a lot are and they don’t care as long as they can GET OVER on someone else.

RESPECT for: property,Rights,opinions,space.

All this should be taught at HOME. So if the kid is out of line 90% of this is because no one bothers at home

I hate the fact that I am dating a momma’s boy! He is almost 24 years old and can’t even go through one day without calling his mommy at home! On top of that, if he’s not calling his mother, he is calling his sister or his brother or his father. Just one day I would like to spend with him without having to worry about him calling home. It seems like every date we go on lately is interrupted by a phone call by one of his family members to pick something up on the way home, or his sister has a problem AGAIN or blah, blah, blah. Why can’t he be a little more independent? I can just picture when we get married, we will have to build an extension to the house so his family can move in with us. Woe is me!!!

There is a heightened awareness in our society today concerning anger that comes in the form of rage. The most noted of these is the infamous road-rage, which I am sure that no one in this room suffers from! There have been countless stories in the newspapers and on the news of people who, while behind the wheel seem to lash out on another driver because another’s driving is driving them crazy.

One driver either drives too slow or makes a wrong move and that is all it takes for the arms of another driver to go up, the words start spewing and the hand gestures begin to fly. In some cases road-rage has lead to side of the road fights that have resulted in some pretty serious injuries. In the worst-case scenarios, people have even died as a result of road-rage. We have heard of people being shot and killed or run off the road or had their pets killed because someone didn’t like the way they were driving. Seems kind of stupid to lose your life over the way that you drive. Somebody loses their cool and somebody loses their life.

Do you ever get that mad? Do you ever get so mad that you don’t care who is around or whom you are talking to, because you are really going to let someone have it? In some form or another we all have a temper, we all have ways of displaying our anger. For some it takes a great deal more to bring this about than others. Still for some, displays of anger come as easy as breathing.

What exactly is this thing we call anger? Even psychologists refer to it as our most baffling behavior. It’s a perplexing emotion. Why are some able to control it and others are controlled by it? We do know this from God’s Word: God created us in His image and designed us with the capacity for anger. We also know that experiencing anger isn’t always a bad or sinful thing - even God gets angry, according to the Scriptures. But how we manage our anger is vital. If we are committed to "Making Life Work," we need to fully understand what God says about this crucial area of our lives.

This week we are continuing in our study of the book of Proverbs, and I hope you have been reading some of the book everyday. We had a deal, remember? Don’t get me mad at you for not reading because I may not be able to control my anger! No, I am just kidding.

But, like the other areas of life we have addressed in Proverbs, the writer of the book talks about this area of anger and quite often especially when it comes to managing it. Through out the book of Proverbs there is an underlying notion that the writer is trying to get across concerning our anger and that is this: