VOLCANIC!

‘Mount St. Helens before and after the eruption’. USGS photo.

In 1980, Mt. St. Helens blew its top.  The heat and steam were just too much!  It erupted, sending ash 80,000 feet into the air.  Its superheated core set off gigantic explosions of steam, rock, ash and debris flattening entire forests, killing some 7000 large game animals, an estimated 2 million fish and 57 people! 

The eruption sent 540 million tons of ash into the air which drifted and settled over 7 states.  It caused an estimated $1.1 billion dollars in damage.  The mountain’s summit was reduced by 1,300 feet.  The blast left a crater 1 mile wide!

When you look at the before and after pictures above, ask yourself what received the most damage as a result of this eruption?  The mountain itself.  Once a beautiful peak reminiscent of Mt Fuji in Japan, is now just a shell of what it once was.

Are you ‘volcanic’, about ready to blow your top?  Is the pressure building inside?  Know this.  Yes uncontrolled anger will hurt others.  But the lesson from Mt. St. Helens is clear.  You are the one that will receive the greatest damage.  In some cases you may be scarred for life!!!

Listen to some of what the professionals have to say about anger from an article featured in ‘Everyday Health’.  The article by staff member Debbie Strong is entitled ‘7 Ways Anger Is Ruining Your Health.’  Here are some thoughts from her article.  She writes, unhealthy episodes of anger, when you hold it in for long periods of time, turn it inward, or explode in rage, can wreak havoc on your body. If you’re prone to losing your temper, here are seven important reasons to stay calm:

1. An angry outburst puts your heart at great risk.  
2. Anger ups your stroke risk.
3. It weakens your immune system.
4. Anger problems can make your anxiety worse.
5. Anger is also linked to depression.
6. Hostility can hurt your lungs.
7. Anger can shorten your life!’  

(For the complete article, click on the following link.)

https://www.everydayhealth.com/news/ways-anger-ruining-your-health/

No wonder the scriptures are full of warnings about anger and wisdom on how and why to control it.  Here are a few.

A WARNIING:  ‘But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.’  Colossians 3:8. ‘Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.’ Ephesians 4:31. 

Why would God say this?   Because He knows that these things hurt us!

AND WISDOM:  My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: ‘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.

‘A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.’  Proverbs 15:1.

Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. Proverbs 29:11.

‘Do not quickly be provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.’
Ecclesiasts 7:9.

‘A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.’
Proverbs 19:11. 

‘Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.’ Proverbs 16:32.

‘Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.’ Ephesians 4:26-27. NKJV. 

Believe it or not, there is a place for anger, RIGHTEOUS anger.  As the scripture says, you can be ‘angry’ but without sin.  Jesus got angry and drove out those who were buying and selling in the temple courts, overturning the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves saying, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made it a den of robbers.” Mark 11:15-17.  

Righteous anger can help your faith.  You have every reason to be angry with the devil who comes to steal, kill and destroy you and your family.  

If a tornado threatens my home, I get angry.  If sickness or any other thing the devil brings against my family, I get angry.  It strengthens my faith.

One day I went to see my son Ben.  He was living with several guys at some apartments near the University where I was teaching.  I knocked on the door.  He answered, but only opened the door a few inches.  He didn’t invite me in or introduce me to his ‘friends’.  I could see through the crack in the door several young men of questionable character sitting on the couch.  After Ben closed the door, a righteous anger took over.  I got in my 400 cubic inch Pontiac Bonneville, laid a streak of rubber and screamed, “In the name of Jesus, you, devil, get away from my son.”

Ben told me later that a bad drug deal went down in his apartment that very day and everyone living there scattered to the four winds, fearing for their lives.  Ben only returned once accompanied by the apartment manager to retrieve his belongings!  God is good.

(From ‘Life is Good’, the Memoirs of MRB.)

Righteous or Godly anger is powerful, but be wise, unrighteous, human anger is deadly.  It can leave you looking like Mt. St. Helens!!!!!

COOL IT.