My Wife’s Anger Management

God expressed His anger concerning sin, but instead of punishing us directly for it, He redirected His anger toward a greater good.

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My lovely, incomparably beautiful wife who is normally very calm and collected had a “moment” yesterday.

I was sitting in my cubicle at work when I felt my phone buzz. When I saw it was her, I knew it was something important. We normally check in with each other during our lunch breaks, but she rarely calls me during any other point in my workday.

Wayne, I am soooooo hot right now!”

I already knew that of course. Her hotness is one of the things that attracted me to her.

Oh, wait…she meant the other “hot.”

She told me about a really tough situation she was dealing with, and instead of reacting in the moment, she asked me to say a quick prayer for her. And after she had calmed down, she actually redirected her anger and frustration toward a solution to the problem.

I love that woman. I texted her later and pointed out that she had literally put Ephesians 4:26 into action.

Ephesians 4:26 (NIV) – “In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.”

By the way, Jesus demonstrated this constantly during His earthly ministry. I recall a particular instance (Mark 3:1-6) where He was in a synagogue during the Sabbath day, being spied on by the Pharisees while He attended to a man with a paralytic hand. He was a bit ticked off at their lack of compassion and hypocrisy and could have very well zapped them with little more than a thought.

But instead, He redirected His anger toward something beneficial and constructive…healing the man’s hand.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, that’s actually a pretty clear synopsis of the gospel itself. God expressed His anger concerning sin, but instead of punishing us directly for it, He redirected His anger toward a greater good, making a way, through Jesus, for all to be saved.

Whether you’re a follower of Jesus or not, I think we can all agree that uncontrolled anger isn’t beneficial to anybody. And while we can’t avoid being angry, we can redirect our anger toward something constructive.

Take it from Jesus…and from my “hot” wife.

 

 

Featured Image by Yaoqi LAI

This is an updated edition of a post originally published on jesusthecenter.com

The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.

About the Author

Wayne is a husband, father, avid reader and writer, and youth minister who happens to believe that Jesus is the focal point of every aspect of life…the individual, family, society, government, philosophy, the arts…and everything in between. He’s committed to challenging preconceived notions about what it means to follow Jesus, and seeks to engage the culture instead of running from it.