“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.”

                                                                                                Philippians 4:7

One reason I think Americans have trouble being patient is because we have become such an angry nation.

Last year the country erupted into the worst civil unrest in decades after the death of George Floyd, and anger about police violence and the country’s legacy of racism is still running high. At the same time, we’re dealing with anger provoked by the coronavirus pandemic: anger at public officials because they’ve shut down parts of society, or anger because they aren’t doing enough to curb the virus. Anger about being required to wear a mask, or anger toward people who refuse to wear a mask. Anger at anyone who does not see things the “right” (our) way.

Raymond Novaco, a psychology professor at UC Irvine said, “We’re living, in effect, in a big anger incubator.” And according to psychiatrist Joshua Morganstein, the country is now dealing with “four disasters superimposed on top of one another”: the pandemic, the economic fallout, civil unrest, and the fallout from the election and transition.”

What we forget in the midst of it all is that anger is a choice. We may feel our internal thermostats rise a little when something gets under our skin, but it is what we do with that anger that matters. God angers, Jesus angered, so being made in God’s image it is not unnatural for us to feel anger. What we cannot do, however, is allow that anger to possess us and in the process turn us away from the love God calls us to show. It must be righteous anger focused on becoming part of the solution and not the problem. Our anger cannot and must not fuel the fires.

More than ever before it is important for Christians to possess the “peace that passes understanding” (Phil. 4:7) by walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16), trusting in our Heavenly Father (Ps. 112:7), and showing hope to a desperate world (1 Pet. 3:15).

It’s on us, folks.

Loving God, in the midst of our anger help us to focus and direct it into positive change for Your Kingdom. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.