A Fool’s Temper

“You make me so…so…ANGRY!! *laughter* I’m angry!”My mother’s favorite quote from Enchanted comes from this video clip where Giselle experiences anger in the real world for the first time. In her animated world, anger doesn’t exist as one of her emotions.

Unfortunately, you and I don’t live in the angry-free 2-dimensional world of talking chipmunks either. We face daily situations that rattle us to the core, raising our blood pressure as well as the volume of our voices.

The book of Proverbs has a multitude of verses on anger, but we’ll focus on just two that relate anger with foolishness

A patient person shows great understanding, but a quick-tempered one promotes foolishness. Proverbs 14:29

Losing our tempers does not promote peace, though it may scare people into silence. Rather, according to Proverbs, it causes foolishness to flourish. When we unleash our anger, we focus on our personal injuries and irritations. However, Proverbs calls us to resolve our differences. To better a situation, we need to first understand the motives of the other party.

A quick-tempered man acts foolishly, and a man who schemes is hated.
Proverbs 14:17

Jesus displayed righteous anger during his time on earth. But most of the time, our anger causes us to sin. We vent our frustrations with damaging words, harsh criticisms, and even with physical damage (like throwing the game controller when you lose).

I’ve been told that “anger” is not a primary emotion. That is, we never truly feel “angry” first. Instead, we might feel insulted, embarrassed, our irritated. These feelings then lead to the secondary emotion we refer to as “anger.”

What makes you mad regularly in your life? Can you articulate emotions other than “angry” to help explain what caused this anger? Ask the Holy Spirit today to give you clarity in times of anger so that, with God’s help, you can become a patient person who promotes peace rather than a quick-tempered person who promotes foolishness.