It's so easy for some of us to fly off the handle. It's that thoughtless driver on the freeway, yakking away on the cell phone who cuts us off and forces us to say something not so kind.
It's the (real life story) knucklehead who races his beyond-than-loud chopper up and down our street, literally scaring my 2 year old to tears, with no regard for the safety of other children playing who makes me want to string up a cable about chest high across our street.
Is it really these people who get me so angry? Partly, but mostly it's how I react to it. James is so convicting in chapter 1, verse 19-20. God is telling me to be slow to anger. Boy, that is a tough one.
And if that area in my life wasn't tough enough, God also asks me to control my tongue. James 1:26, "If anyone considers himself to be religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."OUCH! These verses go straight to the heart for me. I'd love to hear how you all handle those situations that make you want to blow up. Also, how do you keep those foul words from flying out of your mouth?
Let's share the pain here!
3 comments:
Ouch indeed...I've been convicted way too many times of this one...
The thing with controlling what you say is that I think this it happens so suddenly....One event can make some of us just snap in a split second.
Although we act out instantly, I believe that this habit develops over time and becomes our nature...whether we've grown up in an environment where there was a lot of yelling or a habit that we've left unattended and has grown worse.
I think healing from this takes time and is given up to God. It sounds cliche, but I don't think this is something that we can totally be healed from on our own.
As for facing situations where we might snap...I think this can be avoided with constant prayer throughout the day. Paul tells us to pray with out ceasing....putting on the holy armor of God to help us avoid spiritual attack is another way I think we could avoid yelling out.
Defiitely a tough topic
This is a tough one and hits close to home. My problem is (and my wife will back be on this one) that at work I am much more patient and reserved and really never lose my temper. But once I am at home, some things can hit me just right and I lose it. I am really working on this with my family. I have come a long way with the Lord's help (again ask my wife) but I still need some improvement.
I teach a boys youth Sunday School class and we have spent the last month talking about character. How you react to situations speaks volumes about your character. It also shows you areas that need work. One interesting thing that I have learned is in order to develop character you must live life. By this I mean, you have to experience the guy on the loud chopper scaring your 2 year old in order to work on your character. To work on that character, you now know what needs work so you spend so quiet time with your Lord asking for guidance within this area. So the last month, I have really been working on this since I have lots of good examples!!!!
So to echo what Neil stated, constant prayer is a must!!!!!
God Bless!!!!
Good thoughts guys, thanks. Neil you are right, most often those quirky events happen instantaneously and that's when I snap. I'm trying to take a breath and not let it get to me, but it's tough.
Being home with Kel and the kids can put my patience and tongue to the test daily if not by the minute! There has been more than one day when Kelley and I have said, "Boy I hope the kids don't remember today." Yet it is my prayer that my kids see more victories in my parenting than "blow its" and God covers me with his grace.
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