Realizing The True Cost Of Anger

In summary of several verses in Proverbs 14:17, 29:22, 15:18 and 11:29 it says,


Proverbs 14:17
"Short or quick tempered hot headed people do foolish things they’ll later regret.   A wiser person remains claim.  One’s who devise evil scheme are hated."

Proverbs 29:22
"An angry person will stir up a lot of discord, stir up quarrels / trouble and end up committing all kinds of sin."

Proverbs 15:18
"A hot tempered person will start a fight; a cool tempered or calm person (patience) will stop them or keep the peace"

Proverbs 11:29
"One who provokes his family to anger or resentment (brings trouble) will have nothing worthwhile left.  Common sense tells you it’s a stupid way to live."

Bottom Line:
Those who have a short fuse or hot headed will end up doing foolish things that later they’ll regret.  They will be quick to stir up discord, quarrels and even start a fight, ultimately committing all kinds of sin.  Likewise one who provokes his own family to the point of anger or resentment will having nothing worthwhile left.  Common sense tells you this is a stupid way to live.   On the flipside a wiser person will remain calm and through their patience will keep the peace (stop the fight.)

What this means to me:
God’s word tells me that there will always be a price tag to uncontrolled anger (fights, discord, loss of family or loss of reputation.)  The key thing for me to remember is that whenever I lose my temper, I actually “lose.”  Anger can be very dangerous, it could lead to a loss of my reputation, wife, job, health, and just about anything else.  If I’m not careful, anger will alienate me from others.  I need to be cautious and ask the Holy Spirit to remind me when I start to get angry.  Even mild anger can change the course of relationships.  As I think back about an incident yesterday afternoon in which I started to get angry about a position I thought someone was taking.  I was getting all worked up about it and it was only a perception I had and not what the person had said or was doing.  With me spouting off, I’m sure it made the folks I work with wonder where I was coming from, affecting my reputation.  I need to be careful, just a little anger can mess things up.  I need to make sure I go back and let them know I was wrong to jump to conclusions.  It’s interesting, when I started this review of God’s word this morning on these passages I thought that I”m pretty good about not getting angry, but then God brought to mind my incident late yesterday.  I know I can get caught up at anytime.  I am so glad that I have my daily time with God and his Word to help correct me and keep me closer to his path.