Anger and Forgiveness
Anger is a natural reaction to injustice. When we've been wronged, something rises up inside of us to say loud and clear that IT’S NOT OK. And so it should be. God gets angry when He witnesses the sin in the world, the things we do to tear each other down and destroy ourselves (Ps. 78:21-22).
The world around us knows anger well. Our anger burns hot in response to hurt, violations of our personhood, and injustice. Anger has the advantage of making us feel strong rather than fragile. It’s a defensive emotion.
We want the person who hurt us to get a taste of their own medicine, to feel the pain they caused to us. We call this vengeance.
But what the world doesn't know is forgiveness. Vengeance comes naturally; forgiveness comes through the miracle of grace. Forgiveness is impossibly hard. Yet in His bottomless generosity, God calls upon us to forgive one another.
How do we forgive? Only by opening our hands to God's forgiveness of our own offenses, like flowers opening to the sunlight, can we discover within our hearts the capacity to forgive others. The light of God's forgiveness shining on us photosynthesizes healing and new life.
It's only in experiencing the gracious act of God wiping our own slates clean that we are able to find it within ourselves to forgive others. We need our own cup to be topped off with mercy in order to pour mercy out to others. Mercy begets mercy.
Faith-based counseling provides a space to feel our anger about the brokenness in our relationships and in the world. Only in fully recognizing the wrongness of the offense and the hurt it caused us, can we forgive as Christ forgave us. A wise Christian therapist will gently tend to our hearts through this process.
