Authentic discipleship is the surest way to counter the pervasive anger that is overtaking our communities and politics. Even more importantly, authentic discipleship is the best way to share the gospel’s truth—to live as disciples, to share our light and, in turn, the Savior’s light. In marketing terms, it is called “living our brand.”
Anger is the devil's cocaine.
Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.
An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life... ""A fight is going on inside me,"" he said to the boy. ""It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. ""One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. ""The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. ""This same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."" The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, ""Which wolf will win?"" The old chief simply replied, ""The one you feed.""
Happy is the man who can brush aside the offending remarks of another and go on his way.
Anger may be justified in some circumstances. The scriptures tell us that Jesus drove the moneychangers from the temple, saying, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). But even this was spoken more as a rebuke than as an outburst of uncontrolled anger.
Anger is the mother of a whole brood of evil actions.
If you speak when angry, you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.
Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance.
Since we cannot wash someone clean with our forgiveness, the only thing we can do with our forgiveness is cast off the burden of anger we carry. Much is written about how to cast off the burden of anger. However, what if there was no anger in the first place? There is no burden to cast off if the burden was never picked up. We can avoid the need to forgive if we avoid the tendency to be offended.
Not being offended might seem much harder than being offended and then letting go of the anger, but I don’t think so. I think the longer we carry a grudge, the harder it is to let it go. It becomes our security blanket, our protection from ever being hurt again, our evidence that we were wronged, and our way of reminding the offender that he has offended us. It’s difficult to let go of that security blanket, once we become attached to it. It might just be easier, not to wrap ourselves in the grudge in the first place.
If we had different words for the two types of forgiveness the scripture that reads “I The Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men,” could read, “I the Lord will absolve whom I will absolve, but of you it is required to relinquish bitter feelings towards all men.” When the Lord forgives, he absolves, when men forgive, they relinquish.
Man’s forgiveness means that we let go of our anger, refuse to hold a grudge, that we don’t try to punish the sinner with our emotions.
Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel teaches key attributes of Christ that we can emulate: “Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated, or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing. When you are patient, you hold up under pressure and are able to face adversity calmly and hopefully”
Anger can be very corrosive mentally and physically. It releases a flood of cortisol and adrenaline, causing our muscles to tense and our heart rate to increase. High levels of cortisol and adrenaline can destroy the judgment area of neurons in the brain and our short-term memory. They can also weaken our immune system.
Everywhere and always, when human beings either cannot or dare not take their anger out on the thing that has caused it, they unconsciously search for substitutes, and more often than not they find them.
Yielding to emotions such as anger or hurt or defensiveness will drive away the Holy Ghost.
The greatest remedy for anger is delay.
The cause of anger is the belief that we are injured; this belief, therefore, should not be lightly entertained. We ought not to fly into a rage even when the injury appears to be open and distinct: for some false things bear the semblance of truth. We should always allow some time to elapse, for time discloses the truth.
What’s interesting is that we are incapable of being angry and grateful simultaneously.
When you give a lesson in meanness to a critter or a person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.