Anger is a racial thing

One of the pastors we listen to regularly spoke recently on forgiveness and I was reminded of a potential blog post I had sitting unfinished in my queue.  I have many unfinished posts... This one deals with anger.  I know we all deal with anger issues because we are all of the same race. You see, it's a racial thing.  I'm going to bring up a race thing here.  I'm writing of course about the human race!

Anger.

Anger is a feeling, based on a situation in the past. But we presumptuously project that feeling into the future. It is a state of being that we control. Being in the past, we now have no control over that situation. The people in that situation are only affected by our anger during whatever brief encounters we may have now with them. We however are affected by it as long as we allow it.  Anger only hurts us. It stifles our joy, our productivity, our happiness and our peace. The people we are angry with do not feel our angst.  We are the one losing sleep over our anger.

As stated, we as humans all deal with this but may I transition from "we" and make this very personal? This idea has more impact when you can put yourself in it. Anger is Yours. You own it. Anger is the result of a choice you make. It is how you choose to deal with a situation. The flip side of that is you can choose Not to be angry. Only you can choose not to be angry. Choosing not to be angry is liberating. It is like a breath of fresh air. Choosing not to be angry is life giving. Why not choose life? Choose liberty and life.

"How?" you ask. That is a very good question and the answer I believe is somewhat simple to give... but as all good things it takes effort, willingness and continuality. (Continuality. Is that a word? Thankfully, though English is limited in some respects, it is also very adaptive. Here's my definition of continuality. To continue constantly. (Maybe perseverance would suffice.) 

Choosing not to be angry (a state of being that we control) requires forgiveness. You do not have to view what others did as acceptable. You do not have to excuse what they did. You do not have to agree with them and you do not have to forget... like that's even possible. "Forgive and forget" is an old adage that is actually impossible.  Forget means removing a memory and we all know we cannot willfully unlearn something. Once you know it, you know it. All we can do is learn ways to deal with it.  Here is something else; you do not have to trust them. (Trust can be earned back later on, but that is a completely different issue.) But in order for you to heal, you MUST forgive.

Think of what a great example for us Christ is. Think of His words as he hung on the cross. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Think about that. They knowingly beat Him, mocked Him, and ridiculed Him. They purposely stripped Him naked, exposing Him to the public to humiliate Him. They treated Him like an animal, stretching Him out on a wooden cross and nailed Him to it. They knew how to hurt people and did it with purpose. All these things were done intentionally, meaning they "knew" what they were doing. Yet in the grand scheme of things, Christ knew they really did not grasp the weight of what they were doing. He knew that, and asked the Father to forgive them.

In the same way, those who hurt you, on purpose or not, did not know the full weight of their actions. If they knew the whole story of this life God has given to us; of who God is, they would likely have acted very differently. But you are not responsible for what they know or how they act, only how you respond. For you to move past the event into your bright present, looking toward God's bright future for you, you must say, " Father, forgive them... I forgive them as You have forgiven me."

Forgiveness is the key that unlocks your ability to choose not to be angry; to move out of the state of being angry. Liberty, freedom, joy and inner peace are yours. Why not choose them?