THINK TOGETHER.
Do you know anyone with a bad temper?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 22:24-25. 24Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, 25lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
Are you a hothead? Do you get angry easily? Are you friends with people who are hotheads? Solomon is warning his children to avoid being friends with angry hotheads. Why? Because anger is a snare, a trap. Not a trap that someone else sets for you, but a trap that you set for yourself. The angry person has no self-control. They do things without thinking. They hold grudges and can’t think straight about others. They think everyone else is stupid and that they are the only smart one.
But this proverb isn’t just a warning to not be an angry hothead, the warning is to not be friends with angry hotheads. Why not? Because then you will learn their ways and get entangled in the same trap. Again, not entangled in someone else’s trap, but entangling yourself in the trap of anger. In other words, angry people ruin their own lives and have no one else to blame but themselves (although they will try to blame everyone else).
But doesn’t God get angry? Didn’t Jesus get angry sometimes? Yes, and yes. But the difference is that God and Jesus are only angry FOR others, not AT others. Jesus got angry only when others were being hurt. God gets angry at sin because sin hurts us. Think about the last time you got angry. Did you get angry over sin, like God does, or was your anger a sin? Did it help others, or did it hurt others?
Making Jesus your best friend and then choosing other friends who can control their anger is the wise way to live. When you hang out with Jesus and those who are like Jesus you will learn the ways of peace and forgiveness, not anger and hotheadedness. When you remember how much Jesus loves and forgives you, then you will realize that there is actually very little to be angry about.
Because of Jesus there is no reason to defend ourselves with anger.
With Jesus we can learn his ways, not the ways of the angry person.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Talk about: Are any of your angry friends rubbing off on you? How can you influence them in a positive way? Are there any friendships that you should end?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me choose good friends that aren’t angry. Amen.
TLICfamily 