| “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.” |
| —Proverbs 10:12 |
In numerous clinical studies, psychologists have determined that there are four “drivers” that can eventually lead to anger:
- fear
- distrust
- disappointment
- worry
Anger that lingers often becomes intensified. Intensified anger generally leads to hatred. And, hatred leads to destruction.
If you think back over the course of your life, you will likely remember some incident where someone became very angry with you. Just for a moment, think about what might have caused that anger. Which of the four drivers listed above prompted that anger? Was it fear? Or, distrust? Or, disappointment? Or maybe, was it worry? You should be able to discern which one, or which combination of several drivers, led to the anger against you.
How did that anger play out? Did it dissipate? Or, did it become intensified? If it intensified, did it lead to hatred? And, if hatred grabbed ahold, did that hatred lead to some form of destruction?
Far too many people in our society are affected by anger. If you think about the vast majority of the conflicts in our personal lives—our politics, our churches, our work environments, any other realm of our lives—you will find that anger controls just far too much of what goes on around us. That’s why so much of life in this world always seems to lead to destruction.
The antidote to anger is love. In fact, the most powerful antidote is not only love, it is God-breathed agape love. That is to say, love that comes into the hearts and minds of humans directly from God. The New Testament Koine Greek language calls that God-breathed love: agape—pronounced “ah-GAH-pay.” Some of the most beautiful passages in the New Testament that use the word “love” in the English language, are using the New Testament Koine Greek word agape.
King Solomon had both experienced and understood the power of God-breathed love. He had also experienced the destructive power of anger, that leads to hatred, that leads to destruction. Notice what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 10:12:
Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs.
As we begin a new day, it is appropriate for us to pray, asking God to fill our minds and hearts with His God-breathed agape love. It’s not too much to ask of Him. And, He lovingly waits to answer our sincere prayers. God wants us to be filled with His God-breathed agape love, so that we can allow His love to flow out of us and touch the lives of the people around us.
It’s also a good idea for us to take stock of any anger that we feel. Most of the time, our anger is misplaced and quite useless, insofar as making any positive change in the world in which we live. Before we allow anger to consume and control us, we ought to weigh the importance of what is prompting our anger against the antidote of God-breathed agape love.
I think if we make that comparison, we will wisely choose God-breathed agape love every time that it really matters. After all, we don’t want to travel toward destruction, when God has already set us on the joyful pathway toward eternal life and light.
