Have you ever encountered an angry person
and wondered, “Where did that come from?” So often when we are slapped in the
face by another’s words of anger, we are prone to answer in kind – in anger. A
wise mentor advised me to never immediately respond to an angry critic. Instead
pray for them. Wait to be sure the Spirit of God is in control of my life and
not a spirit of indignation. Then decide if a response is necessary at all. The
times I heeded that advice I was spared a lot of needless and useless friction thus
averting additional onslaughts from these angry critics.
How Christ responded to his harshest
critics in the turbulent times before his crucifixion is the model to follow,
if I want to manifest His character. In Matthew 27:11-14. The response of Jesus
to his angry critics was astounding to Pilate (14) because Jesus “made no
answer” to the trumped-up charges of his accusers (12). He was not being belligerent
by his silence. He had answered a question earlier in his interaction with
Pilot when he asked, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus’ brief reply was,
“It is as you say” (11). His responses reflected the advice of paradoxical Proverbs
26:4-5, 4 “Don’t answer the foolish arguments of fools, or you will become as
foolish as they are. 5 Be sure to answer the foolish arguments of fools, or
they will become wise in their own estimation.” There is an appropriate time to
be silent as well as to speak. The problem for me arises when my emotions are
stirred by a critic’s harsh words, and I respond when I should be silent. Too
often I have thrown proverbial gasoline on fiery emotions and generated an even
more intense emotional explosion.
The Apostle Paul instructed the church of
Colosse how they needed to respond to heretical attacks and slander that they
were encountering. Paul does not shy away from encouraging the church to stand
for the truth and refute the various heresies. However, he challenges them to do
this in such a way that they do not reflect the character of the ones who were
attacking them. Instead, they were to display Christ’s character. The analogy
Paul makes is one of being properly dressed – take some things off and put other
things on. Now that Christ had changed them, it should be seen in the new way
they react to people. He challenges them to, “put them all aside: anger, wrath,
malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” (3:8 NASV). He further encourages
them to “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and
patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a
complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Beyond all these things put on love… (3:12-14 NASV). Would the angry attitudes
that are so prevalent in our world be dramatically altered if we “changed our
clothes” before we interacted with one another?
Ambrose Bierce once said, “Speak when you
are angry, and you will make the best speech you will ever regret.” This is as
true today as when it was written several centuries ago. Sadly, many words flowing
out of our mouths, written in letters, sent in emails, posted on Facebook or
Twitter or Instagram, are ones we long to take back or have them quickly
forgotten. Children have been crushed. Mates have been hurt. People have become
discouraged. Essentially our world has been diminished by those angry careless words,
unthoughtful expressions, and damaging communications. One of the guardrails of
our emotional life is found in the Psalm of David, “May the words of my mouth and
the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer”
(Psalm 19:14 NLT). If our words pass this evaluation, then perhaps we have
something profitable to say.
