Do you know who Ben Carson is? He’s the brain surgeon who did a number of amazing conjoined twin separation surgeries and who is also a Christian. I hear him speak on the Web about his early life. He’s mentioned that, when he was a teenager, another boy was trying to fight with him, and he became angry, and tried to stab this boy in the stomach with a knife. The knife hit the other boy’s belt buckle. He said that event caused him to rethink his entire life and where it would go if he didn’t change. So, had he had been successful in his attempt to stab this other boy, his life would have been ruined. He said, “Juvie, jail or death.” As he pondered his situation and his frequently out-of-control temper, he realized that his anger was about being selfish – not getting what he wanted. This man is a brilliant man. There have been a lot of books written about anger and a lot of books written about selfishness, but he compiled all of that in such a clear statement – just a clean simple way to think about it. The really smart ones make complex issues simple. And those of us who aren’t, make simple things complex. He also said, in the talk that I heard him give, “It’s ironic that God turned a boy who used a knife in an attempt to kill a man into a man who used a scalpel to save people.” 

So, his analysis was so good, I thought I would talk about anger and selfishness, and how the one works to create the other. And since we all get angry, we’re going to talk about what we can do about anger from a biblical perspective. 

The first thing I want to mention is that anger is not a sin. The Bible does not tell us that getting angry is a sin. Even God gets angry – though for different reasons than we do. And that’s where the problem is. The Bible tells us that anger – if we are angry for the wrong reasons – we are prone to sin. Let’s read that – James 1:19 – James said:

James 1:19 – Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness – bad language, which is things we say when we get angry – and rampant – or out-of-control – wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word…. So, when we’re humanly angry, we’re no longer meek – a quality implanted in us when God and Christ take up residence in us and communicate with our spirit. 

So, what is a connection between a lack of meekness and anger? So, being angry is not a sin. Okay? But a lack of meekness – or being self-centered – is. Let’s look at the cause of anger from a biblical perspective. 

The word for meek in Matthew 5 means mild, calming, rather than argumentative. I’m quoting the beatitudes there – Matthew 5. Being meek is the second element of the beatitudes. To be meek means mild or calming, rather than being argumentative or inciting. The Bible tells us that Moses was the most meek man on earth. But it also shows this: that there were numerous times when he was more like an angry lion. He had a temper – a flash point. Remember, he hit the rock when the people were complaining. We know, earlier in his life, he killed an Egyptian. So, how do we square these seeming contradictions? 

Well, the key to understanding is the context. Every time we see him angry, it was because others were disobeying, or rejecting, God. But every time we see him attacked personally, he is extremely meek – mild. There’s no ego defense there. So, our problem is very seldom do we get angry because God has been insulted or grieved, but mostly when that’s happening to us. 

There’s an incident in Numbers 12, where Moses’ siblings, Miriam and Aaron, criticized Moses because he married a Cushite woman – outside the family of Israel. They use this as an example – as a case for themselves as leaders – because they said, “Hasn’t God spoken through us, like He has Moses?” The account says that God heard them say this. Of course, He did. And He call Miriam and Aaron and Moses out to a meeting. At that meeting, He told them that Moses was the only one He spoke to directly, and to get off their rebellious stand. He considered it rebellion that they would go up against Moses. So, after He left, Miriam had a case of leprosy. God left her with that. So, after being accused by his siblings, what did he do? Did he point to Miriam’s leprosy, and say, “I told you so,” or, “That’s what you get”? No. He did not defend himself. He let God defend him. And when he did do was to beg God to heal Miriam and to forgive her. No resentment. No punishment. No defensiveness toward Miriam. That’s meekness! 

The Bible tells us to rejoice when people say slanderous things and untrue things about us for Christ’s sake. That’s meekness. According to God, even though Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land – because of his anger – he will inherit the entire earth. Because that’s what happens to meek people. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

Jesus also describes Himself as meek And, that was true, wasn’t it? He probably suffered more insults than anybody. And when the Pharisees and the scribes accused him of being a heretic, for example, He would not attack them personally, but He would ask them questions to show them that they didn’t know what they were talking about. When He went before Pilate, He showed Pilate that He was guilty of nothing, but He did not defend Himself personally. Most of us are the other way around. We’re so insecure that we lash out immediately when people imply that we’re weak or unfit in some way. So, we can hear all sorts of terrible things said of God and we don’t’ react, but when others criticize us, we get defensive, argumentative or angry. So, whatever it was that made Moses and Jesus meek is what we need also. And we need to be able to use that to limit our own anger. 

So, let’s go back to Ben Carson for a minute to find out what that missing dimension was. Ben Carson said he noticed that when he got angry, it was always because he was selfish. Selfish. In other words, he believed he should have what he wanted. For example, he wanted peace, and he wanted safety, and he wanted respect, and this other boy was not giving him any of those things – this boy he got in a fight with. He believed he deserved those things, and he believed the people who would take those things from him were bad and needed to be punished. And that’s what he was about when he stabbed this guy in the belt buckle. 

By contrast, when we see Jesus facing His enemies, does it seem like He’s demanding any of those things? No. He believed that He came to absorb that and to give His life as a sacrifice. And we’re to think that way, too. 

So, what did He believe that caused Him to love them as He loved Himself? What did He believe that caused Him to be mild and not defensive in the face of those provocations? Well, one, He knew that, as a human, He was part of a human family – a family that He and the Father planned to create and bring into eternal life. “Love each other as I have loved you,” He told His disciples. So, that was His goal. That’s what He had His eyes on. He knew that His detractors were blinded, and through no fault of their own, didn’t see that. And He said that on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. We blinded them.” He knew that to be a human means to suffer in order to learn these things. So, we’re told that even Jesus learned something from being human while He was also God. 

Let’s read about that in Hebrews 5:7. Some of us think God can’t learn anything, because He already knows everything. But that, apparently, is not quite true – at least, not true for Jesus while He was in the flesh. So, Hebrews 5:7:

Hebrews 5:7-8 – In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 

And that’s the same lesson that we have to learn too, isn’t it? Okay, so, how do we learn that lesson? How do we become meek and why is it hard to be meek? Well, I think, at this point, let’s say, “Enter the devil.” So, we know about the devil – just like Jesus did – and we know that he tells us lies, and, if we believe them, we will become defensive and feel weak. So, why, knowing those things, don’t they transform us like they did Jesus? Well, because we believe something that is not true. We believe a lie.

Here’s the truth: No one can make us angry, jealous, discouraged or afraid. So, when we say, “He made me angry,” that’s not true! No one can make us…we have total control over that. We don’t have to have what we want either. To think that way is not true either. There are lots of things that we don’t get and we still survive, so we do not need to have everything we want. 

Okay, so those are probably the two primary negative thoughts that cause people not to be meek – that people can make us angry – that’s usually because they are not giving us what we want – and it’s not true that we have to have what we want in every case. We were created to suffer with Christ. So, let’s think about that. 

So, let’s think about that – putting on a new mind – the mind of Christ. In Colossians 3:1, it says:

Colossians 3:1 – If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died – when we were baptized, we promised to give up our lives – and your life is hidden with Christ in God. It’s not with our enemies or even with the people that love us. Our lives are with Christ. He’s the One that’s going to give us eternal life. He’s the One that perpetuates our lives now and sustains us. So, he says in verse 4: When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. So, there’s a connection there between being resurrected to eternal life and having our minds set on God’s things, not our own. 

Let’s look also in 1 Chronicles 16:11:

1 Chronicles 16:11 – Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Continually. That’s how we fight off all this stuff. It’s a never` ending battle that goes on continually between the influences of the world and Satan and the influences of God that comes to us through His Spirit communing with ours.

Now, this continual thing, this can be tricky business. Let’s read Mark 8:31:

Mark 8:31 – And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Well, he was only trying to save His life, so how was that setting your mind on the things of man? Well, why would Peter rebuke Him? He didn’t want it to be true. He loved Jesus. And he couldn’t stand to think about it. So, he told Him to stop talking that way. But that was not God’s will, was it? Even to express love to his Lord, that was out of line, because it was based on his own selfish desire. 

God created a plan, and has so much character, and is so committed to helping us live forever, that He allowed His own beloved Son to be crucified. And for anyone to say that that shouldn’t happen is going against God. Probably, in this case, as it was with Peter – who was tuned in to the devil’s channel instead of God’s – that’s why Jesus told him. “You’re thinking the way the devil thinks. You’re thinking your own way, instead of God’s way.” So, even Peter’s love for Jesus got in the way of doing God’s will. It’s not uncommon to love someone too much that they do wrong as a result of it. 

So, loving Jesus was not Peter’s problem. That part of it was good. But putting anything that we want ahead of God is always going to be a problem. God is going to have His way. It’s never going to happen. God always gets His way. So, our desires that aren’t according to God’s plan, those things are never going to come true. And that can make us angry. Two, God knows what’s best for us more than we know for ourselves. What if Peter tried to do something to prevent Christ’s death? Well, that isn’t going to happen, but what if he had prevented the crucifixion? Well, it’s silly to even think about it, isn’t it? It did happen. But we see Peter actually tried to do that. He cut off the servant’s ear when they came to take Jesus. Jesus had to stick it back on, so that God’s will could continue. 

So, what do you think Peter was thinking when he swung his sword toward the servant? Think about that. What was he thinking? He believed that anyone who would do this to Jesus is evil. And that made him angry. He probably also thought that evil people need to be punished. It’s not fair. It’s not right. So, whack! Off comes the ear! “Evil people need to be punished and I’ve got a sword in my hand, so I’m the one to do that right now.” That thought is right out of the devil’s play book. It’s Selfishness 101. 

So, Dr. Carson was right. We get angry when people prevent us from having what we want, because we believe we should always have what we want. We think, “I don’t always think that I should have what I want.” Well, why do we get angry if that’s true? When we’re in that mode, we have deceived ourselves. We can’t see it. But, actually, if you think about it, anger, if you use it the right way, can become a warning signal. When we start to get angry, we can start looking to see where we’re off on our own self-centered trac k, instead of God’s. Jesus said – and I think I quoted this earlier already, but it’s always true – when people rail on you and criticize you and judge you down because of what Christ said and what you’re doing with it, there’s no need to get angry with that. It’s like your bank in heaven is getting filled up. Every time you hear an insult, just think caching! There’s another deposit to my account. 

Now, here’s the hard part. All these negative selfish thoughts, even though we recognize them for what they are, still are habitual in us. They are always going to be our first reactions. I won’t say, “Always,” but, if we don’t control them, they will be. If we do, then we’ll gradually break away from that way of thinking. So, we have to hit the brakes and say to ourselves, “Who am I to have everything I want? God is only One who gets that, and I’m not God. And to have my attitude about that shows my self-centeredness.” 

So, how often do we have to do this kind of course correcting? Well, 10,000 times 10,000 – never-ending – every day – maybe from minute to minute – those thoughts from the devil war against the flesh. And our job is to war back – to fight back constantly. Minute to minute, if necessary. And, if we do that, eventually we will start course correcting before we go off the ledge. That’s how old habits are broken and a new one is formed, right? We think something bad, and we go ahead and say it anyway, but then sorry for it, and then the next time we have something happen, and we know it’s bad, but we react anyway, and then, the next time we stop it before we react. And, if we do that often enough, then a new habit develops. So, it takes constant vigilance and effort. It’s that inner spiritual battle that we fight against the devil. That’s very much a part of Christian life. 

On this account, Paul said a couple of things that stick with me. One of those things was, “I die daily.” Next, he meant that when he found himself in that human mode, he would “crucify those ideas.” Just try to eradicate them. Resist them at every turn. Of course, we can’t forget that Jesus and the Father, who dwell in us, connect with our spirit, and they’re there to help us. All we have to do is ask and to say the truth to God that we know. And then He will cause the devil to leave. If you resist the devil, he will flee from you. That’s a promise in the scriptures. Also, if we do that, we are entering into a process God has created that moves us from spiritual death to eternal life. 

So, how do you suppose God feels as He and His Son work together to help each of us move toward the perfection they offer us? Well, let’s not wonder about that. Jesus made an issue of the shepherd dropping everything to look for that one lost sheep. And notice what happens when the sheep is found – Luke 15:17.

Luke 15:7 – Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Of course, in other places, Jesus said, “Everybody needs repentance.” So, it’s kind of a sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek statement. There is nobody that doesn’t need to repent. So, that ninety-nine percent don’t even exist. So, all of us is that sheep that was lost and now are found. And that means, when we make those efforts to change and follow the Spirit of God in us, they rejoice. They love it. 

As it works, God, His Son and all the beings in heaven experience great joy as they see us moving toward perfection. Because that’s what this struggle is. It’s a constant battle. Sometimes we lose ground. Sometimes we gain. But, as we fight that battle, in the end, we know that we win. God’s plan of perfection is coming true every day in all God’s people. So let’s constantly focus on that – the battle we have to fight every day and how happy it makes God to see His plan working in us.