Provoked to Anger

This is my public confession of my failed attempt to be righteous. We have all sinned and fallen short of not only God's law, but also the laws created by governments to help us behave within an imposed moral code of conduct.

A few years ago my oldest daughter took a job at a popular coffee and donut shop. She was only 15 years old and was a star employee. She had a talent for listening to instructions and getting the work done. I was so proud of her and was impressed that she was able to juggle the pressures of life at such a young age. She made sure her school work was done, chores were completed, was to work on time, and still had time for her passion of horses.   
One day she came home with tears in her eyes (this was not the first time), and told me about the horrible day she had. She was working the drive-thru window, which abruptly came to an end when a woman threw a cup of hot coffee at her. It appeared that someone got this disgruntled woman's order wrong!
I was furious!

Shame on that woman! No excuses! Nothing is worth being this upset over, especially a sub standard $2.00 coffee.  

I struggled in my spirit to be calm, as I felt the need to reprimand the woman who assaulted my daughter with hot coffee. I did turn the other cheek, figuratively speaking, and I let the chips lie where they may. I tried the best I could at the time to turn this into a teaching moment. I may have failed at the time to successfully learn what the message was, but maybe now I can use this situation for everyone who reads this blog. 

Over the past century, there has been an incredible amount of agitation being created in our minds. The propaganda on posters to get civilians to hate certain groups in an attempt to coerce them to war, to the modern-day misinformation spewed on the devices we hold in our hands. Wars and rumors of war, hate, anger, and a number of other images of death to our society and to our souls. Empathy quickly turns to fear, and our hearts stop beating in tune with one another. We retreat, coming to the conclusion that everyone must have an ulterior motive, and we enter the fight, flight, or freeze response.

We are also under an extreme amount of programming. Years ago I was taught through sales seminars that I am an expert in my field of work. I was taught to, "hold my ground" and never give the opposition a foothold to control the transaction.  Even if I was wrong, charging too much, or peddling a product that is known to be faulty we were never to admit defeat. This went away from my core values, as my father taught me that we are never to make excuses and admit to our wrongdoings. What all the worldly programming has done has created a world full of narcissists, who will never admit wrongdoing, as this would be considered a sign of weakness.

There are a few examples in the Bible where my superhero, Jesus, got incredibly angry.  Unlike most followers of Jesus Christ the Messiah, I do not picture a calm, soft-spoken, tranquil, and peaceful man. He spoke with fire, which means he was passionate, and he held people to account for their wicked hearts. The egocentric, and self-righteous spirit that motivated the hearts of some men (and women), Jesus would use the very strongest language of the day to expose their hearts.  It appears that Jesus was most furious about the gold and silver offerings to atone for one's sins, as taking whips that he made to drive out the money changers would not have been done in peace.  

At times Jesus was considered a madman and called out by the Pharisees and Sadducees as performing miracles of demons. Jesus stood his ground and he didn't let the controllers of the day hold him back from the work that he was commissioned to do by Creator God, he was a warrior, and he fought for our rights to be separate from the corrupt system of greed by the elite of his time.

The Bible seems cloudy on how to deal with anger, as Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26 just say, "Do not sin in your anger".  What does this even mean?  It is clear that we need to "Bridle our tongue", meaning pay attention to what we say. "The tongue is like a sword", meaning that words can hurt people to the core of their hearts.  Watching how we treat one another is the biggest lesson that one can take from the whole teaching of Jesus Christ. If we are being provoked to anger, turn the other cheek, walk away, and keep silent are the best solutions to disarm and de-escalate any situation. 

At the beginning of this blog, I made a confession about my failed attempt to be righteous, my intent was not to deflect from my responsibility to do the right thing. I always prided myself as a good guy, calm, and collected, however, I have not been immune to being provoked to anger.  With name-calling, mocking, insults and wrongful accusations, I have been triggered into retaliation and/or defense of my reputation. The moments in time where I took matters into my own hands, I failed.

It says in the bible that we have been forgiven by the work to the cross, but it doesn't stop at the cross. There are actions to take. We need to seek forgiveness from the ones we have wronged,  to be absolved from the guilt we carry from our misconduct. When we ask for forgiveness, it is now in the inner courts of the wounded, their heart. The injured will then need to learn how to forgive 7 x77 times, for some this takes time. Becoming proficient and mastering the skills of redemption to the debt of unsparing love; the learning required to atone for our own shortcomings, this is what is required to having peace within your inner rooms and a life everlasting.  

When going through your week, learn to be calm, and peaceful. Always choose to help to build someone up, not tare them down. Let us watch our words to one another, and not provoke one another to anger.


​Learning to be a vessel every day, 
​William John.

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