Invite Jesus to Heal Your Negative MindsetIsampula

Jesus will transform your anger, if you let him

Anger comes from an explosive power. This power is not necessarily a bad thing: like fire, it can be used for good or for ill.

When Jesus overturned the tables of the traders outside the temple, he was showing some of this explosive power.

But how do we make sure we use our explosive power in harmony with God’s will and avoid destructive anger? 

Here are three things we can do every day:

1. Balance our explosive power with humility. Moderate the explosive fire with cooling waters. When we are proud, our anger is dangerous. When we are sure we are in the right, we think we can tell others what to do. But Christ reminded us to remove the log from our own eye before offering to remove the speck of dust in our brother’s eye. Let us first listen carefully to others before firing off at them.
2. Anger is often an attempt to control another person. But instead of rushing to impose our own will, can we take a step back and try to discern God’s will? We can ask: how would Jesus deal with this situation? What would be the outcome most pleasing to God rather than the outcome which works only for us? "Thy Will be done."
3. St Paul said: “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Sure, we may blow a fuse sometimes. But later, when we have cooled down, God gives us the chance to put it right. We can apologize to the other person. And we can apologize in prayer to God. The other person will probably forgive us. God certainly forgives us. It is so important to let go of anger. If we store it up, it becomes a poison to our souls. It smothers the divine spark. It drives a wedge between us and God. The longer it goes on, the deeper its roots go, and the harder it is to dig out. So at the end of each day, let us make sure to ask God to remove it. 

If we practice these three simple things each day, we will begin to notice that anger is losing its power over us.