Video Challenge Day 7: What is anger?

Let's begin today by noting WE ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK!  We have said 'yes' to God.  We finally shut our mouths and let him talk.  We've said "Jesus bring oooooon the chisel."  So, God takes us at our word, and begins.  He carefully lines the chisel up with an area of our life that needs to go. He pulls the hammer back, and BANG, he hits the head of the chisel.  OUCH!  That totally took us off guard!?  The surface level pieces of our problem fall to the ground, and God discovers the problem runs a little deeper than it looked.  Once again he lines the hammer up, BANG, he hits the chisel dead on again, and this time chips deep into our soul.  OUCH!  THAT HURT!!!  Let me encourage you and warn you today,  the chiseling sensation will run deep, and the sound of that hammer will echo forever in your mind.  This is not going to be easy, but it will be worth it in the end!


In the skit God begins with anger.  To understand "anger"  we resort to the Word.  James 1:19 says let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath.  Wrath comes from the word orgē, meaning "anger or punishment."  This word is derived from the word oregō meaning, "to stretch ones self out."  This word comes from oros, meaning "mountain."  AND oros, comes from airō with means, "to take upon ones self what has been lifted up to bear."  It is important to understand anger and its source, so we can allow God to chisel it away.


Taking the definitions and roots of the word and putting it in our vernacular, we could say:  "anger is stretching our self out(oregō), climbing up an impossible mountain (oros), taking the place of what has already been lifted up (airō), in order that we might inflict punishment (orgē)." 


Anger is a natural, human emotion.  One we are quick to resort to when things do not go our way.  This habit and emotion is one we instill in ourselves as children, and carry this child-like behavior into our adult lives.  When we believe we have been wronged according to our personal standards, we immediately turn to anger.  Anger stretches our emotional stability and always leads to an action.  This action is our attempt to take Jesus' rightful place and inflict punishment on the person who has wronged us!  We turn our path toward a mountain of which we will never reach the peak!  2000 years ago God sent his Son to BE the payment and TOTALLY TAKE the punishment for our sin.  For us to be angry and attempt to punish those who have wronged us is removing God from his throne, and denying Jesus sacrifice every happened.


In our capacity as demonstrators of God's love, let us be quick to love and listen.  Student, remember your authorities, and even parents are just as human as you are.  Adult, it is not your place to "punish" and be angry.  Christ has taken that away.  Use your position to demonstrate the principle of "sowing and reaping" in a manner that is calm, just as God does for us.  When we consider what Jesus did for us, and recall that in each time of trouble, anger has no door by which to enter - much less an outlet in our lives.