Hot-Tempered

For Thursday, February 9, 2006
Proverbs 15:18

A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.

Note the opposite effects each man has. The hot-tempered man stirs up strife. Have you ever been in a Bible study where the discussion has been interesting and then, by the way one person interjects his opinions, an argument ensues? A hot-tempered man stirs up strife when there has been no tension present. On the other hand, the one slow to anger is able to quiet contention. Not only does he not promote strife; he is able to quell it.

Which are you? Do you have a history of losing your cool? Do you "set people off" by the way you speak? Do people have to be careful what they say around you because they don't know how strongly you are going to react? Most hot-tempered people know that they are that way. But instead of dealing with it, they seem resigned to it and accept that they are going to cause casualties. But that is sin. We do not have the right before God to accept our anger.

If this is your case, please do something about it. Get help. Anger is not something that a person handles on his own. Explore why you have trouble with anger. Learn techniques to control your anger. The trouble of hot-tempered people is not that they have no sense of self-control, but that they don't exercise control over that one area.

Finally, quit acting as though you must prove yourself. So much anger is the result of thinking that someone is against us and we must exert ourselves in defense. If you are in Christ, understand that God is not against you. Christ has reconciled you to God. And if you are reconciled to him, and if you believe that he is sovereign over your life, there is no reason for remaining hot-tempered. The peace of Christ is with you and in you. And if you are born of God in Christ, it is peace, not anger, that should be manifested in you.