I read about a woman whose neighbor played his music way too loud in the apartment below her. Finally, she had enough and yelled at him to turn it down. He just taunted her by banging a broom handle on his ceiling. This infuriated her so much that she jumped up in the air and slammed both feet on the floor.
Here’s why the altercation made the newspaper: The force of her landing broke both her legs about 4 inches below the kneecap.
The moral of the story? When you lose your temper in a disagreement, it will leave you without a leg to stand on.
David needed help with his out-of-control rage at one point. Does that surprise you? I mean, David loved to write psalms about nimble deer and quiet waters and night skies. He was “a man after God’s own heart” who “served God’s purpose in his own generation” (1 Samuel 13:14 and Acts 13:36). And yet in 1 Samuel 25, we have an account of how he let anger get the best of him. Had Abigail not intervened, his rage would have led to disastrous consequences.
The story convicts me. No matter how much we love God, no matter how gentle we think we are, no matter how much we've grown spiritually, anger can get the best of us.
Thankfully, the Bible is a wonderful Anger Management Manual. Starting this Sunday, we’ll see what it has to say about conflict resolution. Our new series is called “Getting Along.” Across eight weeks we’ll look at these biblical solutions to conflict:
Tame your anger
Think “win-win”
Confess your part in the problem
How to mediate a conflict between others
The difference between “forgiving” offenses and “forbearing” annoyances
How to sharpen your communication skills
How to confront appropriately
How a greater trust in God contributes to peaceful living
God’s Word can guide us to resolve conflicts. Let’s open our Anger Management Manual across the next eight weeks to see what it has to say about getting along!
Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.