Stored Anger (1)
Thursday October 20, 2016
Unkind words or hurtful events cause us to store anger, which if not dealt with, will deteriorate through time into frustration, anxiety, hatred, despair, rage, and subsequently hopelessness. The effect of these feelings carried forward from childhood into adulthood causes us to seek out ways to control each situation we encounter in a way that positions us to hurt others before they hurt us. Alternatively, we become people pleasers. In our desire to fit in with the crowd we may enter into unhealthy relationships and/or addictions which we believe will help fill the emptiness inside us.
Unfortunately, all the baggage we have not dealt with in life continues to accompany us. The anger inside us erupts and spews over into our current relationships causing frustration and pain to those close to us. Addictive substances or behaviour that we thought would help us deal with the pain and frustration inside actually pull us further into the dark side of hopelessness. The false persona we display to others keeps us from being real even with ourselves.
At some point we will realize we need help to deal with what’s going on inside. When we come to know Jesus and accept salvation through His death on the cross we become new creations. The old has gone and the new has come. We are challenged by God to demonstrate this transformation by acting and reacting in new ways.
“ … now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Colossians 3:8-10 NIV)
Anger covers fear, unmet needs, offenses against us, and an unwillingness to change. God will reveal to us the underlying root cause of our anger if we ask Him. He will give us grace to forgive others, and even ourselves for the harmful effects of an angry lifestyle.
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