Relationships do not do well in a courtroom. Perhaps you were right about what irritated you, but you were certainly not humble. Perhaps you were right, but you did not love. This

If we are servants of Jesus, we take less offense when people wrong us. We think instead, How can I represent my Master now?

You are in spiritual territory here. Don’t expect that you can do any of this without God’s grace and power being given to you. In other words, you need to pray.

For now, follow Jesus’s example and have zero tolerance for all anger that reacts to personal slights or attacks.

What do you treasure above all else? Is Jesus not enough for you (Matthew 6:19)? What or whom is your master? What you fear is what you serve (Matthew 6:24). Take a risk. Speak your reflections on these questions to God and to another person.

Anger is not something that comes upon us when an offense is committed. Anger is already in us. In its embryonic form we call it desire. We desire power, pleasure, peace, comfort, love, respect—the list could be endless. Then something stands between us and that desire. We want something and we aren’t getting it. So anger is in us. It just takes

The problem is that you expect everyone else to have the same abilities you do. They don’t. If you forget this, you will be angry—often.

Despite intense, undeserved suffering, Jesus endured it without anger, without seeking retribution. In other words, the occasions that would normally bring out our anger are the perfect tests for our soul. They are gifts to help us follow Christ. Will we follow the Lord when life is inconvenient and we are not treated well? We see our hearts most

Asking forgiveness is anger’s opposite. It shows humility. Your sins are worse. You see that you can be blind to your own wrongness and tendency to want control. But you aim to be below rather than above. Forgiveness builds up. It heals relationships.