Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (I Corinthans 13:4-7 ESV)
Anger and Love
Love and anger are opposites. Discounting that rare beast, righteous anger, which we actually rarely wield notice how many of Paul’s descriptors of love help us understand and reject anger.
Paul’s examples of love cut at the core of most of our anger. We are angry because we are impatient, insist on our own way, are resentful and are unwilling to bear all things.
We are angry because we choose not to be kind, are arrogant, are willing to be rude, and believe the worst instead of the best concerning the target of our anger.
We are angry because we compare ourselves to someone else and find envy, boast, and an unwillingness to endure anything less than ideal.
We are angry because we can see nothing but our own definition of what really is.
We are angry, much to our later shame, merely because we are irritable today.
We are angry because we have clung to too much false hope in someone else’s ability to change, someone else’s ability to keep promises, someone else’s character, or someone else’s righteousness. Remember, hope only is found in Christ.
Love, Christ’s love, offers a counter to anger. Love, Christ’s love in us, offers us a counter to anger. Love, Christ’s love lensed by us, offers us a counter to anger.
Take the love God grants us.