Have you ever been mad, just to be mad? Someone may have sorta kinda hurt your feelings, and you take the opportunity to get mad. You stay mad for so long that after a while, you have to ask yourself who or what has made me so upset.
I can remember one morning when I awoke from a dream where I was upset with my husband. In the dream, I was rude and short-tempered to him. Of course, I don’t remember what happened in the dream, but the dream seemed so close to reality that once I got up that morning, I started communicating with my husband in the same fashion as in the dream. He looked at me and said, “how can you wake up so ill, what is wrong with you?” Then like a jolt back to reality, I realized what I was doing. I had no reason to be mad or upset with my husband; it was just a dream!
Do you know what the Bible says about being mad? A lot! And not just in Ephesians, where Paul tells us to be angry but not to sin. Everyone likes to throw that one around.
The Bible is full of scriptures instructing against being mad. Anger leads to evil (Psalms 37), commits many sins (Proverbs 29), and strays from righteousness (James 1). The scripture also calls us fools (Proverbs 12, Ecclesiastes 7) and tells our husbands they are better off living in the wilderness than with an angry woman (Proverbs 21)!
If the Bible is so explicit about not being mad, why do we do it? Anger is one of those quick emotions that, if fueled the right way, can lead to disaster. I had to stop and apologize to my husband that particular morning and ask for his forgiveness over my foolish mistake. So the next time we want to rant and rave at our husbands, children, or co-workers, even if we feel warranted to do so, let’s be reminded of Proverbs 15:1, a soft answer turns away wrath. Don’t be mad, be glad!
Be blessed
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