For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.” Proverbs 30:33

Charles Heller desires to kill the terrorists who executed his wife. He destroys his career as a CIA analyst, becomes an enemy of the state, and obsesses over being brave enough to take a life. He can kill a few assailants using his cunning, but he realizes he has no stomach to kill in cold blood. He opts to avenge his wife by setting up a trap to arrest the lead terrorist.

Anger is like a bad stomachache. The longer you hold it in, the worse you feel. If you try to relieve the stomach issue, you have to be careful where you go. If you relieve the symptoms in front of people, you will make their day a lot worse.

Many well-meaning people tend to think expressing a little anger is okay as long as it helps people, but I think the Bible has overwhelming evidence that anger makes things worse. Relationships are ruined, and careers are lost over anger. Many people actually want a righteous calling to action over an angry outburst.

Here’s how to discern the difference between an angry outburst and a righteous call to action.

Righteous Call = community help, prayer, bold conversations,  dialogues,  steps of faith, compassion, bravery, dependence on God

Anger = Bitterness, outbursts, estrangement, crimes of passion, violent thinking, stress-related illnesses, foul language, mockery

Anger may give you energy and bravery to engage a problem, but a righteous calling gives you power to fix a problem.

Figure it out:

My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

20for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.

21Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,fn humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

22¶But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

23Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own facefn in a mirror.

24For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.

25But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.

26¶If anyonefn thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself.

27Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:19-27

  1. What are some differences between angry outbursts and righteous calling in this passage?
  2. How can you transition from the angry outburst mindset to the righteous call to action?