This afternoon I was watching football on the TV and enjoying listening to the pundits debating the hottest issue. They were all particularly angry about something and one pundit in particular was giving his opinion in an incredibly forceful way – he was super angry. I was quite enjoying it all but after a minute my wise wife said; “Can we turn it over? I don’t think I want to hear more anger about something else”. The subject didn’t affect her but the anger and the emotion did.

I knew what she was talking about.

This year it feels like everyone is angry about something and everyone is prepared to share that anger with whoever is listening (or not). Of course we are in a season where we have struggled, a season where our emotions have been stretched and our emotional tanks are low. We also are living in a culture that rewards strong opinions – no one seems to want balance anymore.

But surely those of us as Jesus followers can’t fall into that trap. Surely that is not what Jesus intends for us. In the book of James it says this;

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 (NIV)

What if we applied that verse to our everyday. What if when we see something reported that we disagree with we firstly take the time to understand the issue at hand from all angles? What if we gave grace to those making the decisions as they are always harder than it seems from where we are? What if we didn’t broadcast our anger but kept silent and asked fro the Lords perspective?

I want to produce the righteousness that God desires, that means I can’t produce the kind of vitriol that humans desire.