What Do You Do If You Have Anger Issues?

Yesterday, we talked about the sources of chronic anger issues in our life.

The acronym was GIFT and we talked about the fact that chronic anger can usually be traced back to:

GUILT we feel for the past or the present.
INFERIORITY we have been carrying around for years.
FEAR of someone or something.
TRAUMA that we have experienced recently or maybe in the distant past.

So, once you have identified the likely source of your anger, what's next?

You preach the Gospel to yourself.

What do I mean?

At the heart of our faith is the belief that the Gospel is not just a set of propositions or a doctrinal system to which we have to give intellectual assent but that it is in reality the key to the meaning of life and the ultimate answer for every spiritual, moral, emotional, and relational dilemma know to mankind.

But we have to keep reminding ourselves of this and once a week on Sunday is not enough.

Each of us have to grasp the Gospel AND learn how it applies to our "issues".

It could go like this...

If you are angry because of guilt, you could say "Jesus has removed all guilt by paying for my sins on the Cross - I refuse to accept guilt for things my Savior died for so that I can be forgiven".

If you are angry because of inferiority, you could say "I am a son/daughter of God because Jesus died so that I could be adopted into God's family - that position means I am royalty and I am much loved!"

If you are angry because of fear, you could say "The Bible says 'There is no fear in love' and Jesus death and resurrection is the ultimate demonstration of love. There is nothing left for me to fear".

If you are angry because of a trauma, you could say "What happened to me may have been horrible and painful but Jesus has promised that one day he will wipe every tear from our eyes. Now, I can trust that God can remake my past, heal me in the present, and give me a great future because Jesus died and was raised from the dead to make possible an eternity of incredible perfection".

What about you? Where do you need to preach the Gospel to yourself?