Christlike anger

so i've had this on my mind for the past week or two, and i've not written anything on here in about that long, so i figure that this will be an appropriate thing to write about. i am talking about anger. this has been a topic that has picked my brain for probably about a year or more now. i see in scripture where it says for us to "put away" anger (among other things of course). Two specific instances where I'm talking about is in Colossians 3:8, and Ephesians 4:31.

Okay patrick, why is that so mind boggling? Well, i'm glad you asked patrick, let me explain where i'm coming from! So - earlier on in Ephesians 4:26, it says "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger," (ESV). This sparks an interest in my poor mind as to how I'm to put it away, but also experience it without sinning....

The first thing that i looked into was the original language, where i'm still coming up with a little bit of a road blockage. They are both pretty similar words in meaning...basically the same thing. And according to different sources, both words are used in different places in Scripture. For example, the word for anger in verse 26 is also used here in Matthew 5:22 where Jesus says "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgement...". But then i thought more about it and thought about the context of all of these situations. Anger is such a weird subject to me. It's like, there are different approaches to it. I will do my best to boil it down to two different sides here. I would say that there is a way to deal with anger in a Christlike manner, and in a manner that is that of the worlds.

I see it this way, we have arguably one instance where Jesus got angry (the clearing of the temple). I will also state that for him to make a whip, it implies that he took some time out to "let it simmer" in his mind (for lack of a better phrase or example). I keep coming back to one point in my head, and it makes sense to me. Basically this is what it is: anger is not wrong, but when not handled well, it very well can be. I wrap it up in my mind with this as well. Jesus spent 33 years here and we have, for the most part, one recorded instance where he was hot pissed - and I've been here for nearly 22 years and i can't count on my digits how many times i've been angry. I can safely assume that the majority of those times, i was in sin. I am one of those people who is very rarely angry or mad - but even still, i have been. I want to fight off worldly anger and worldly expressions of anger. I don't want to be content with saying stuff like "hey, i can blow up every now and then", because then i settle to be content with living with sin in my life.

So this is really long, i started it around 8:15 this morning, and I finished up the second half of it at 1:00 this afternoon, so it may not have a fairly even flow because i didn't go back over what i wrote. But the likely hood that anyone has made it down this far is very doubtable. If you have, and you would like to talk about this stuff with me, i'm definitely open to what others have to say.

i'm no good at goodbyes

I used to have one of these where I would write lists of things I liked, thought about a lot, or just stuff that was on my mind. I am going to try to be as consistent as possible, even if nobody reads these things. I think it will be pretty neat-o to come back to and read later. So without further adieu, as insignificant as they may be, I present to you my thoughts!

So this past week was amazing. It was definitely one of the most encouraging weeks I have had in a while. We had an awesome group of people come in from Truman State University that I will never forget. I thoroughly enjoyed my time working alongside them, and hanging out with them getting to know different people. I cannot completely describe how encouraging this week was, and just how much fun I had.

With that in mind, I was doing a lot of thinking last night and today about a lot of different things, one being that I’m terrible, and awkward at goodbyes, and another being that goodbyes never really get any easier as life goes on. I honestly grew to really appreciate my friendships with these people over the course of the week. I was talking to these two dudes today that I went to pick up from the airport about how it is always really hard to say goodbye to a group that you have grown close to and having to admit to yourself that there is a chance that you may not get to see these people again. Except with me, I really hate the idea of having to admit that to myself, so I usually like to think that I honestly will see some of these people again, I mean, it’s a small world right? I would like to think that maybe one day I’ll find myself around that area and be able to get up with some people and just be able to hang out again. But ya know what though, the more I think about it the more I realize just how much I take for granted my relationships with people in general. (New paragraph, because this one looks long to me now)

I don’t seem to honestly have this battle in my head with some of my best friends that I “know” I’ll talk to everyday, so why do I have that with people that I’ve only known for a few days? I really don’t know the answer to that question, I have my thoughts on some contributing factors, but I wouldn’t call those answers. This isn’t the first time that I have experienced this feeling though; I am well acquainted with it. Ha, I was asking myself the other day “why do you keep doing this? “, but my answer to myself was “I love it, and it’s totally worth it!” I honestly believe that God has called me into this, and I will stay as long as I feel that way.

Anyways, this is really mushy. I got two new books today (exciting? Yes). I am going to go now.