You wake up. Late. Your alarm didn’t go off and now you’ve got to race round getting ready for school/college/work. In your hurry, you forget to check on the toast, and it burns. At lunchtime, you’re waiting in the queue at your usual coffee shop, when someone cuts in front of you without even apologising. Later on, the traffic’s bad and it takes you three times longer to get home. When you finally arrive, you’ve built up such a heap of anger that you’re ready to explode at the first person you see. Sound familiar? Psalm 37:8 tells us: ‘don’t give in to worry or anger’ (GNT), but sometimes, despite our best efforts at self-control, anger gets the better of us. So how can we learn to harness it? Author Max Lucado reminds us of Jesus’ reaction to the mob that was about to kill Him: ‘Jesus said… “Father, forgive them…they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NIV)…He saw this bloodthirsty, death-hungry crowd not as murderers, but as victims…He saw in their faces not hatred, but confusion…He regarded them not as a militant mob but “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34 NIV). “They don’t know what they are doing…” think about it…they hadn’t the faintest idea…They were a stir-crazy mob, mad at something they couldn’t see so they took it out on, of all people, God…Uncontrolled anger won’t better our world…sympathetic understanding will.’ When we lose our temper with others, we’re risking causing damage or saying something that could leave the other person with long-lasting emotional scars. We don’t know what effect harsh, angry words could have on someone. So when we feel that build-up of pressure, let’s try to take a step back and remember that compassion will resolve situations quicker than anger ever will.

What now?
It’s a bit of cliché, but next time you feel you’re getting angry, before you react, count to ten and in that time, remember the compassion that Jesus showed His enemies.