Mastering Our Emotions: Biblical Principles for Emotional HealthНамуна

The Purpose of Emotions: Anger

Anger is a natural response when we or a loved one has been wronged or slighted in some way (e.g., Jesus in the temple) or when a goal-directed behavior has been blocked by someone. Anger, however, is not always in response to someone else’s actions; it can also be triggered by the perception that one’s concept of fairness has been violated, and the anger may not be directed toward a person but toward a source. For example, we may become angry at an organization because we have had negative experiences in the past with individuals within the organization. We can also think of anger as an adaptive response when a person knowingly and intentionally acts in a hurtful way toward us or someone we care about.

Anger prompts us to defend ourselves and protect our loved ones. Anger itself is frequently stereotyped as a destructive emotion when people’s response to anger is often what’s actually destructive. Chronic expressions of anger, such as swearing, yelling at another driver on the road, screaming at your children, giving your spouse the silent treatment, and physical aggression toward objects or people, are common examples of destructive responses to anger.

Spiritually, we usually think of the destructive response to anger as wrath (Proverbs 15:1; Ephesians 4:31) and the adaptive response to anger as righteous. An adaptive response refers to a response that allows you to pay attention to what the emotion is trying to indicate and results in taking effective action in a given situation. However, as we noted earlier with Jesus in the temple, he responded to the moneychangers’ behaviors in God’s house (mistreatment of the temple) in an adaptive fashion; not only did he assert his authority in the temple, but he also established through his actions an explicit code of conduct for anyone who would ever interface with the house of God. In other words, Jesus’ response to anger was both righteous and adaptive.

In modern-day society, how would you respond if your cable company failed to tell you about hidden fees? What if a teacher shamed your daughter in front of the entire class, prompting her to cry as soon as she got in the car? Anger, like frustration (the result of unmet expectations), prompts you to take effective action by being assertive, which is what Jesus did in the temple.

• Where do you feel anger in your body?
• Jesus responded to anger in righteous and adaptive ways. What might be a modern-day example of righteous and adaptive anger?
• Can you think of a time when you expressed anger in an unhelpful way and a time when you expressed anger in a helpful way?