december 3, 2023 | seeing red
Questions to dig deeper into this week’s topic:
- Why do you think the Christmas season results in so much anger for so many people?
- Dion Garrett talked about anger as a “secondary emotion” an emotion we feel as a result of other deeper, more vulnerable emotions (fear, shame, sadness, etc.) we feel less safe to feel. Which of your more vulnerable emotions are more likely to come out as anger?
- Pick either Genesis 4 or Jonah 4 and read it. These are two encounters God has with angry people. What do you notice about his approach that you could use to approach the anger inside of yourself or the people around you?
- Read Ephesians 4:26-32. In this passage, Paul uses three different words for anger. One is “run of the mill” anger that’s not sinful. Another refers to “irritation or resentment” and the final one refers to an anger that results in rage. What can you draw from these verses about what’s healthy, dangerous, and sinful when we’re dealing with our human anger.
- The most constructive use for anger is to allow it to drive us to curiosity about what we’re feeling and action to change whatever is that’s wrong in us, in our relationships and with the world around us. In that case, how do you see God’s healthy anger being part of the motivation for sending Jesus?
- Spend your final moments getting in touch with the things in the world that are not as they should be, and then pray for God’s intervention in those things. Ask God what he would have you do, if anything, to bring healthy change.