Anger is meant to make the world a better place, yet sadly, our anger usually leaves a trail of destruction. We lash out in anger but our intent is not to help, but to hurt others.  Our anger is retaliation to those we think have wronged us. And we want it to sting. 

Yet, just as we are about to make the crucial first step of admitting the harm our anger is causing, the “experts” wave the latest research in our face.  Suppressing anger, we are told, is psychologically damaging.  We must learn to “vent.”   

When psychologists say ventilation is beneficial, we must ask, beneficial for whom? 

When God looks at the wreckage we have made of His beautiful world, how should he respond?   He responds with anger. 

We are slightly embarrassed by the countless biblical references to God’s wrath.   But our problem stems from thinking God gets angry for the same reason we do: wounded pride, vanity, selfishness, an ugly mood.    

God is angry because He is good.  Anger is the proper response to evil, and God is justly angered by all the sin and injustice on this planet.  A loving and good God will not allow evil to claim victory. 

But all this talk about God’s anger and wrath is Old Testament stuff, right?  Wrong.  Paul, especially, speaks repeatedly of God’s anger -- both his present anger on evil and the coming day of His wrath.   

 Yet, what if God Himself could suffer the punishment for the evils we have committed?   What if God did exactly that by taking on human form and walking to the “Place of the Skull” to suffer in our place?  This is the message of good news.  Jesus has suffered the anger of God in our place. 

The Lord guides the humble in what is right. . . 

Psalm 25:9       

 If we want to learn the English language, we begin by learning the rules.   

But, once we master the language, we learn to transcend the rules. School children learn: “Never end a sentence with a preposition.” The literary master, Winston Churchill, on the other hand, said: “That is a rule up with which I will not put!”  

When God began leading his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land, his guidance was simple – just follow the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. They didn’t have to be spiritually insightful; they just had to be obedient.  

Jesus spoke to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the desert to see?” 

Matthew 11:7           

The people flocked to John the Baptist when he preached at the Jordan River. Jesus asked them what they went out there to see. It’s a good question because we almost always see the thing we’re looking for.   

Focus, for example, on the color blue, and you will see it everywhere.  

Jacques Plante is, perhaps, the greatest goalie who ever played hockey. He led the Canadiens to six Stanley Cups and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1978.  

Plante was an innovative genius. He was the first goaltender to play the puck outside the crease, the first to skate behind the net to stop the puck for defensemen, the first to raise his arms to signal an icing call to his teammates, the first to regularly wear a face mask – which enabled him to throw his body to stop a shot.  

Yet, Plante realized that the fans noticed his occasional mistakes far more than his brilliant play in goal.

. . . he sent his servant to tell those invited, “Come, because everything is prepared.”’ But one by one, they began to make excuses.” 

Luke 14:17-18    

 If I would teach my dog to fetch, and then throw a pipe wrench into my garage, he wouldn’t come out until November. I have no excuse for not cleaning it up. But I’m not worried. I have all afternoon to think up a good reason for waiting until tomorrow. 

Excuses are so handy. They free us from doing unpleasant tasks or acting responsibly. Not only that, making excuses exercises our creativity – and, although I’m not an expert, I think the process of inventing excuses keeps brain cells from dying.   

I have a friend who doesn’t like to make excuses. When his garage gets messy he just cleans it up. He worries me because I have no idea what his lack of excuse-making may be doing to his brain cells. 

Blessed are you when others mock you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil things against you. Rejoice and be glad . . .” 

Matthew 5:11-12        

 For her work in the field of therapeutic humor, Patty Wooten has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. One of her favorite stories is about a grumpy patient who continually pressed his buzzer for help.  

Despite a hectic day, his nurse clung to her good cheer and asked, “What’s wrong?”  

The patient complained about his dinner. “This is a bad potato.”  

The nurse, determined to keep things upbeat, picked up the potato with one hand and spanked it with the other.  She scolded the potato, “Bad potato! Bad! Bad! Bad!” Satisfied that the potato had learned its lesson, the nurse set it back down on the plate.