Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel

Author:Craig Groeschel [Groeschel, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780310333692
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 2012-04-30T22:00:00+00:00

Listen.

Take some time to process before speaking.

Don’t jump straight to being angry.

It’s taken years for me to become slow to anger. I attribute it to two things. First, I’ve consistently submitted myself to the truth that my anger won’t fulfill what God desires — his righteousness. I want to be the man that God desires me to be. Completely. Second, God has honored that commitment. He’s in the process of making me more like himself. Seven different books of the Bible all mention the same character attribute of God. Do you know what it is? Seven different writers all noticed that God is “slow to anger” and “abounding in love.”

With his help, I’m becoming slow to anger and abounding in love. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. A long time ago, we were looking for an assistant for me. One of the challenges in filling this position is that many people see me through rose-colored glasses as “Pastor Craig,” the great guy who’s always godly, joyful, compassionate, and loving. Consequently, applicants had a hard time thinking of me as “regular Craig,” their boss who has good days and bad days like everyone else.

So our entire executive team interviewed each finalist. When we were meeting with Sarah, the woman we ultimately chose, one of my colleagues asked her, “Do you think you could handle Craig if he got angry?”

Well, I was immediately offended. “I don’t get angry,” I said.

Another team member said, “Yeah, you do,” while the others snickered.

And I said, “Whatever! We deal with intense things here sometimes, but it’s not that big of a deal.”

Sarah squinted at me. “Yeah, I understand. No problem.”

Another staff member looked at the ceiling and asked, “What if Craig, oh, I don’t know, say … threw a pencil?”

“Wait a minute! That happened only one time! Once! Are you ever gonna let me live that down?”

As their questions continued down the same path, I could feel my temperature rising.

I kept interrupting, “I don’t get that mad!”

They all smiled and nodded at me. “Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t!” I couldn’t help raising my voice a little.

One of them looked at Sarah and said, “See?”

“This isn’t really fair,” I said as meekly as I could.

After Sarah had worked with me for several years, I was preparing a message about anger. We were talking through some of the points in my outline when she stopped and said, “You know, Craig, I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen you angry. It’s been years.”

This was the greatest compliment she could’ve given me! Reining in your anger — and changing your reputation — is possible. If your anger is poisoning your life, ask God for patience and wisdom to help you. If it’s sinful anger, ask God to put it out. Stop making excuses. He wants to make you more like himself.

Fired Up

The other kind of anger, what I call sanctified anger, requires a different response. Scripture offers several examples of Jesus getting angry — but he never sinned.

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