Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

There is an old saying that a man is a fool who can’t be angry, but a man is wise who won’t be. Anger is a common emotion that we must all learn to deal with. The Bible says, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27). This teaches us that not all anger is sin. There...

I once had a long-distance telephone conversation with an angry caller. The person felt that I had ignored a member of his family in a time of need and so proceeded to “dress me down” for it. When I tried to explain that I was not aware that I had neglected the relative and that it certainly was not intentional, he accused me of not being very bright....

Several years ago I ran across the phrase “The stormy north side of Jesus.” It stuck in my mind because this is a side of Jesus we so seldom see and so often forget.   We have so long thought of him as “gentle Jesus, meek and mild” that we’ve overlooked the fact that he was capable of anger (Mark 3:5). Jesus has a stormy north sid...

"Men are like steel; they are of little use when they lose their temper," said actor Chuck Norris. The Bible agrees. In Proverbs 16:32 the Lord says, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Everyone is tempted at times to fly into a rage of anger. There are occasions when we are all o...

Jesus called James and John “The Sons of Thunder.” That’s because they had a short fuse. They would cloud up and rain all over you in a New York minute. When a Samaritan village did not show them proper hospitality they wanted to call down fire from heaven and destroy the entire population! That’s a normal reaction. When people are rude to us,...

Edwin Markham, the poet, reached the age of retirement only to discover that the banker who was managing his money had defrauded him. He was so obsessed by anger and bitterness that he could no longer write poetry. While sitting at his desk and doodling one day the Holy Spirit convicted him that he must deal with his anger or it would destroy him. He decided then and...

The first emotion of the first man born on earth was anger. Cain, out of a fit of jealous rage, killed his brother. Anger was not just a problem for the first mortal man born on earth but for every man. It expresses itself in countless ways: road rage, spousal abuse, security guards, having to have metal detectors at schools, airports, and athletic events, and scores...