A choice we make to not be offendable when someone's comment was meant to make you angry. As Christians we've been taught that anger is righteous anger to stand up for what is right. This study shows that the righteous anger belongs to God. We are called to forgive.
As it is written in Ephesians 4:25-32, "Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, trust they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Week One: Emotional Hindsight; Slow to Anger; Antidote to Anger; Reframing Anger;
Week Two: The Problem of Hypocrisy; Motives of the Heart; Put it into Practice
Week Three: The Physiological Effects of Anger; Look for Cues; Don't Borrow from Tomorrow; Choose to Trust; Practice Makes Perfect
Week Four: What about Injustice?: Confront Injustice; Advocate for Justice; Reject Retribution; Choose Forgiveness
Week Five: How to Actually Do This: Top Ten Qualities; Commanded to Love; Loving Those People; Creating an Action Plan
Week Six: The Difference it Makes: Life or Death; Freedom and Blessings; Back to the Beginning; Celebrate
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Bible Study:
Week One: questions from the study guide.
When is it ok to get angry? Is it a sin? Is there a righteous anger only for God when he can be vengeful? How do we forgive those who have wronged us, despite their lack of remorse? Does forgiveness resolve anger? The Myth of Righteous Anger - Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20
Answers:
We get angry, everyone does, it is a part of our emotions that we were born with. What is a sin is when we want to get even and think of ways to lash out at someone who has offended you. What we need to do is to forgive them and pray to God to judge what punishment or what he finds is righteous to do. Ephesians 4:26 says "When you are angry, do not sin, be sure to stop being angry by the end of the day".
Week Two: questions from the study guide:
What is the difference between Christian and Evangelical? How do you judge one another? How does refusal to be shocked effect others --to be unoffendable? Do people get to you through their self-righteousness?
Answers:
A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior and follows his laws. Being Evangelical is going beyond being Christian and have been born again with strong convictions about their faith. Society has put people in groups that are judgmental towards each other. Many times though being judgmental is frowned upon and will be called out. When there are so many absurd things going on in today's environment, it is easy to see shocking things, some are things people do just for attention. When you refuse to be shocked, they get disappointed and may not think you are sensitive or assume how they think you really feel. Yes, many times people's self righteousness can be ugly and repulsive where they may have wanted to show how good they are, ends up showing how stuck up they are.
Week Three:
What are some ways you have experienced that connection between anger and stress? How have you been impacted physically during seasons of high anger and/or stress? What is righteous anger? What is corrosive power? How are you borrowing trouble from tomorrow in ways that produce worry and anger today? How can you tell when you are leaning on your own understanding rather than trusting God?
Answers:
Usually when I get angry where it becomes argumentative, it is stressful. I can get stressed enough at times from what I perceive as righteous anger that I get headaches or backaches. A walk usually helps lessen these symptoms. Righteous anger is when we see someone disobeying God's commands. It could become corrosive power when we internalize the anger to a point that it eats away at ourself from the inside of our emotions. What God says is that righteous anger belongs to him. We need to let go of the anger and pray for them. I can project what could happen tomorrow that gives me something to worry about or see what I need to do to prevent it. That kind of worry is usually about my health or relationships that are not easy to predict, so I need to pray to God to guide me in my choices to not take risks. When I make quick decisions or am rushed to do something I should pray about it first, give pause to allow my discernment from God to lead me.
Week Four:
What about injustice? Aren't we supposed to be angry about it? When you express anger about an issue and show outrage, is that actually doing something about it? Is there a way to stand up for justice and forgive someone? What does James 4:17 say about the need to actually act what we know needs to be done? As it says in Romans 12:17-21, what can we do to overcome evil with good?
Answers:
So is it enough to say "It's OK now, I got mad about it and tweeted." When we see an injustice in our society, we naturally call it out and in the world of social media it means to tweet or post to various different platforms. But what we call our anger "righteous", because we are really angry it must be righteous. Expressing outrage doesn't do anything about it, and in examples of social injustice such as prejudice, it is much better to respond with a clear head rather than clouded by anger. In the process we must learn to forgive each other. Just as God forgives us we must forgive them. Leave the justice in God's hands.
Week Five:
How to Actually Do This One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone who has offended you deeply, have you had this experience? Do you find your emotions take over? What is living a lifestyle of forgiveness?
For the disciple John, he simply said to "Love one another" (John 13:34) To love is to forgive, and that may not be easy in all circumstances. It needs to be practiced daily by nailing our own self-righteousness to a tree honoring God who forgave us our sins. Your life is more enjoyable to live with forgiveness than without, not looking for negatives in people, but enjoying their value and accepting their flaws. In the process you will feel free and less fearful, more true to who you really are and not having to care what everybody thinks about you. Consider the great love of Christ as in Romans 5:8, "While we were still sinners, Christ died for us". He forgave those who didn't know his sacrifice for them yet, so radical a love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, describes what love is "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. As I may struggle to obey this command "to love your neighbor as yourself", I must pray for the strength and discernment to know how to forgive.
Week Six:
What is the difference in being Unoffendable? When you become unoffendable, are you saying that you forgive those who tried to offended you? Do you remember that when we are forgiven and thus we in turn must forgive others? How can you stop feeding your anger on certain things? Is forgiving the same as reconciliation?
We need to have gratitude for God's grace and forgiveness. Sometimes we forget how he has blessed us and not to worry about so much. Also to quit feeding our anger, and don't hang on to it which causes all sorts of stress and anxiety. In Proverbs 30:32-33 says "If you play the fool and exalt yourself, or if you plan evil, clap your hand over your mouth! For as churning cream produces butter, and as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife." Even when things get ugly and tempers flare, there is forgiveness, since we will have anger at times when we feel wronged, we need to be humble and forgive, not allowing the anger to drive you. Try forgiving people in advance, when you know there will be conflict. When we get rid of anger, handing it over in prayer to God, it is the first step to forgiveness, then reconciliation can happen, but not always since it would take the offending person to ask for the forgiveness to make it complete. Just knowing that Jesus will answer any justice that needs to be dealt with can bring peace.
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