But now also put these things out of your life: anger, bad temper, doing or saying things to hurt others, and using evil words when you talk.
Colossians 3:8
We won't often admit this, but we like being angry. We don't like what caused the anger, to be sure; we just like thinking we've "got" something on someone. So-and-so did something wrong, sometimes horribly wrong, and anger offers us a sense of moral superiority.
That's why we call it "righteous anger," after all. It's moral and good, we want to think.
Problem is, "righteous anger" directed at someone is pretty tricky. It turns out that I tend to find Brant Hansen's anger more righteous than others' anger. That is because I'm so darn right. I'm me. I tend to side with me. My arguments are amazingly convincing to me.
. . .
[In the scripture above] we don't like the "anger" part. We think that when Paul said to put anger "out of your life," he really meant "except when it's constructive." I've yet to hear us apply that logic to the rest of his teaching in that verse: "Get rid of your evil words – except when it makes sense," or "Rid yourself of evil words – except when they really had it coming."
Let's admit it: we like anger – our own anger, that is – at some level. We're just so... justified.
Upon hearing my ideas on anger, a radio listener told me, "I don't get it, Shouldn't we be angry at those guys in the news who beat up homeless people?"
Here's what I think, given that we're to "get rid of all anger": Anger will happen; we're human. But we can't keep it. Like the Reverend King, we can recognize injustice, grieve it, and act against it – without rage, without malice, and without anger. We have enough motivation, I hope, to defend the defenseless and protect the vulnerable, without needing anger.
Seek justice; love mercy. You don't have to be angry to do that. People say we have to get angry to fight injustice, but I've noticed that the best police officers don't do their jobs in anger. The best soldiers don't function out of anger.
Anger does not enhance judgment.
Yes, God is quite capable of being both just and angry, but if I'm on trial in front of a human judge, I'm sure hoping his reasoning is anger-free.
Some people think I'm nuts when I talk about this, when I say we're not entitled to our anger. And maybe I am. At first, I hated this idea too. The thing is, now I'm hoping I'm right, because life has become so much better this way, and I think I can understand Jesus more.
