Is there anything good that can come from anger? Although anger is usually destructive, Ephesians 4:25 commands us, “Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” We also see that three times in the gospels, either Jesus or the God figure in one of Jesus’ parables was angry.
Biblical Anger
Matthew 18:34 says, “And the lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.
Mark 3:5 tells us, “After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.”
Luke 14:21 tells the story people who were invited to a grand wedding feast but refused the invitation. The end of the story says, “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to the slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’”
Channeling Anger for Good
While anger is generally a destructive force, it can be channeled for good purposes. It produces motivation, energy, and drive. Let’s say you procrastinate. Your spouse winds up nagging you to complete tasks you’ve said you would do. The nagging makes you angry. Rather than exploding or letting the anger simmer, use the energy that is a by-product of the anger to get the job done!
Or, let’s say your child comes home with a D in math. Your spouse has been telling you the child needs your help with math homework. You could get mad at your spouse for giving you an extra job to do. You could get angry at your child for not paying better attention in math class. Or, you could channel that anger and the energy it produces into helping your child learn the material and building a stronger relationship with him or her in the process. That would be a positive use of this emotion.
It takes discipline to use anger for good. It requires owning your feelings, refusing to act them out in negative ways, and really listening to others. In order to use anger for good, we must control the emotion and not allow it to control us.
If you can channel angry energy toward completing a plan of action, it can actually help you achieve a positive result. Just don’t let the anger persist past bedtime.
