I sat at the red light waiting to turn left onto a one way street, and the person in the car behind me went ballistic, honking their horn, making hand gestures for me proceed. I wasn’t convinced that it was legal for me to make that turn (although it was) so I waited until the light was green to go.
The upset driver behind me became unhinged, tailgated me briefly, then pulled up beside me and verbally assaulted me before speeding off angrily.
Fortunately, the good Lord gave me reasonable restraint so that I resisted my natural inclination to respond in like kind to this outrageous behavior.
While it’s easy for me to be critical of another person’s “over the top” anger, the incident stirred within me a realization of an increased proliferation of and proclivity towards hostile overreaction on the part of many individuals in our world.
Social media posts, news reports, and unacceptable behavior on the part of others seem to spark frustration, fuel outrage, and stimulate seething quite easily these days. When high profile criminals aren’t held accountable; price hikes continue; children disobey their parents; the store clerk can’t answer our question; or our neighbors don’t clean up their dog’s messes, we find ourselves immediately angry and vent our frustration hastily.
Christ followers are commanded to do better. In speaking to “my beloved brethren”—spiritual siblings by virtue of their personal faith in Christ’s death and resurrection to secure their pardon and prevent God’s eternal condemnation—James commanded, “But let everyone be…slow to anger…” (James 1:19). James didn’t say that God’s children never get angry, but that we are not to do so quickly.
The reason James gave for being slow to anger is because “the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:20) either in the person who is angry or the one with whom they are upset. God’s righteousness here is upright conduct consistent with the morally upright character of those who are God’s children through faith in Christ (Ephesians 5:1-2; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
“The Lord is…slow to anger” (Psalm 103:8) and His children should be too. When our response to an unmet expectation, unwanted interruption, or unpleasant situation is immediate hostility, it hampers our progress towards Christ-like maturity.
Slowness to anger begins by realizing that evil jealousy, insecurity, and inability to control others or outcomes often fuel our fury. Repenting and relying upon the Lord deprives our fury of the oxygen it needs to burn.
Being slow to anger promotes our spiritual maturity and is one way “Christ…is exalted in our body.” (Philippians 1:20)