Runaway children, dawdling browsers, bumping trolleys and checkout delays — it’s enough to send shoppers into a rage! And according to psychologists and many expe­rienced shoppers, it already has. “Supermarket rage” is taking hold. In Britain it is especially rampant. I read of a shopper there who died from a heart attack after a clash with another shopper over a trolley, and a man who was jailed after ram­ming a woman with his trolley in a dispute over a checkout!

Then there’s “road rage”. It seems that the tendency for normally calm and restrained adults to become overwhelmed by impatience and aggression when driving on a busy road is reaching epidemic pro­portions.

Not even the airways are safe. Recently a woman in her early 20s was arrested at the end of a flight from Brisbane to Singapore after punching one passenger, abusing oth­ers, swearing, and assaulting the cabin crew. A newspaper report described it as “a severe case of air rage”.

The problem with expressions like “supermarket rage”, “road rage” and “air rage” is that they may well give unwarranted status to what is often simply impa­tience and selfishness. The book of James avoids such euphemisms: “Where do all the fights and quarrels among you come from? They come from your desires for pleasure, which are constantly fighting within you. You want things, but you cannot have them, so you are ready to kill; you strongly desire things, but you cannot get them, so you quarrel and fight” (James 4:1, 2).

In this generation of instant gratifica­tion, we want things and we want them now; and when things don’t go our way, we become angry. At times people let us down; sometimes we might be treated unfairly; often things don’t turn out quite the way we had planned. For all sorts of reasons, we find that anger is never far from our door.

In his letter to the Ephesians, the apos­tle Paul wrote of the critical importance of Christian unity, and of what promotes it and what disrupts it. Not surprisingly, he had something to say about anger: “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger; and don’t give the Devil an opportunity” (Eph. 4:26, 27). Clearly there is a kind of anger which is appropriate and a kind of anger which is not.

In Ephesians 5:6, Paul wrote of God’s anger that will come upon those who dis­obey Him; Jesus was angry with those who regarded their own rules as superior to God’s mercy (Mark 3:1-6); and the Psalmist was angry when he observed the blatant disregard of God’s Law (Psalm 119:53, 136). I am angry when I see man’s inhumanity to man so tragically displayed in the recent events in East Timor; and I am angry when I see heartache, terminal illness and death, which remind me again of how God’s beautiful world has been spoilt.

In the face of all of this, tolerance and indifference are not the appropriate response. Ephesians 4:26 says “Be angry”. These things ought to drive me to pray more earnestly, “Your Kingdom come”. I long for God’s rule to be made complete and obvious, in a world free from injustice, pain and death; and while such things are present, I ought to strive to be an influence for good and to bring a message of hope by pointing people to the Saviour.

Yet Paul goes on to write in Ephesians 4:31, “Get rid of all bitterness, passion and anger...” There is a kind of anger which is not appropriate, and we are to rid ourselves of all such anger; the kind which goes hand in hand with hurtful words (Eph. 4:29), insults, hateful feelings (Eph. 4:31), and an unwillingness to forgive (Eph. 4:32).

Therefore Paul quickly follows his “be angry” of Ephesians 4:26 with three “buts”. First, do not sin; make sure your anger is not of the kind that is accompanied or motivated by such things as pride, jealousy, malice or revenge. There is a college in New York which offers a course entitled Getting Even. The course is packed with practical ideas on getting back at a noisy neighbour, a nasty co-worker or an ex-lover, along with details of where to get legal advice if the strategy backfires! This kind of anger is guaranteed to bring hurt to ourselves and others. Therefore, “do not let the sun go down on your anger”; do not let your anger fester and lead to bitterness, resentment, the holding of a grudge.

Most importantly, be willing to forgive before such bitterness can take root; and “do not give the devil an opportunity”; for when we allow anger to disrupt the unity within the Church, we are surrendering our weapons to the devil. Why does the Apostle Paul emphasise so strongly throughout his letter to the Ephesians the importance of Christian unity? Because our unity is meant to be a visual illustration to the world around us of the message we preach: the message about how God has reconciled us to himself (Eph. 2:1-10) and to one another (Eph. 2:11-22) through Christ.

Therefore, whenever the devil is able to disrupt our unity, he strikes a blow against the integrity of the message we proclaim. To put it bluntly, if we are declaring a mes­sage of love and reconciliation, yet there is amongst us anger which expresses itself in hurtful words, hateful feelings and an unwillingness to forgive, then we become guilty of preaching one thing and living another. So don’t give the devil an opportunity.

Whenever we find in our hearts the kind of anger which is inappropriate, we need to deal with it. If we don’t, it harms on at least three levels. At one level, to harbour anger is bad for my health. There seems to be widespread medical agreement that people who often get angry or resentful are more likely to suffer from headaches, indiges­tion, insomnia, and acute tiredness, and are more likely to spend time in hospital. The Scriptures tell us: “If you stay calm, you are wise, but if you have a hot temper, you only show how stupid you are. Peace of mind makes the body healthy, but jealousy is like a cancer” (Prov. 14:29, 30).

On another level, inappropriate anger and its various manifestations spoils the fel­lowship within the Church and sends a message which confuses and damages those looking on.

Above all, if I go on harbouring anger, I must surely offend the God who has gone to such extraordinary lengths (at great cost to himself) to bring about my forgiveness. Jesus’ story about the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35) makes the point per­fectly.

When we find ourselves struggling with anger, there are various strategies which may help. When my patience is tested by others, I remind myself that there are prob­ably many people for whom I provide a great test of patience! I remind myself that God is exceedingly patient with me, and that he “is merciful and loving, slow to become angry and full of constant love” (Ps. 103:8). He has forgiven me, so how can I withhold forgiveness from others?

I remind myself of a passage in James (5:7ff), where my attention is drawn to the endurance of the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord, and to the remark­able patience of Job, and to the need for prayer if we are to persevere through trials. These reminders can be of help when anger is lurking at the door.

I remind myself, too, of the need to keep things in proper perspective. I like the story of the woman who always carried with her a small piece of paper. On the paper was written a brief but significant piece of information. On those all too fre­quent occasions when her three hyperac­tive children seemed completely out of control and her patience was all but gone, the woman would take the piece of paper from her pocket, read its message, regain composure, and put the paper back in her pocket. It was a newspaper clipping about the Guinness book of Records, and it stated that the record for the most children born to one woman is sixty-nine, including sixteen pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets!

We need to keep things in perspective. At times we become angry simply because we get things out of proportion, we lose sight of the bigger picture, and we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by things which, seen more clearly, will not over­whelm us. In Psalm 73, the writer describes his anger at the prosperity of the wicked, the apparent triumph of evil over good, and the seeming pointlessness of living God’s way. Yet when he saw things from an eter­nal perspective, he recognised that those who “wear pride like a necklace and vio­lence like a robe”, and whom he had envied, are on a path to destruction. He goes on to write: “You guide me with your instruction and at the end you will receive me with honour. What else do I have in heaven but you? Since I have you, what else could I want on earth? My mind and my body may grow weak, but God is my strength; he is all I ever need” (verses 24-26).

When anger is lurking at my door, I remind myself that God is sovereign. My concerns, be they large or small, can be left with him. The things which might anger me, I must hand over to him. No matter how tumultuous things might seem to me, God is in charge. As the Psalmist put it: “So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths” (Ps 46:2). God has said: “I alone know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to bring you a future full of hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11). Rejoice in this Sovereign God, and anger will be kept in its place.