It’s not just your imagination. People really are angrier these days and it is a direct result of the absence of God, faith and a solid spiritual foundation. The moment when God was absent from schools, homes, families and churches, temperaments changed and the results are irrefutable.
More and more, Americans seem pushed to their limits. They’re feuding about politics, protests, the pandemic. Fights about whether or not to wear a mask are playing out both publicly and on social media. Surveys over the past few years indicate that anger had risen in the country even before the 2020 health, economic and racial crises that washed the nation with fear and uncertainty.
A Gallup poll conducted in 2018 concluded that more Americans were stressed, worried and angered compared to the previous year. About 22 percent of Americans had felt anger the previous day, up from 17 percent a year earlier. All that anger has a cost. When people experience low patience thresholds, they often become rigid or locked in their beliefs. They have limited capacity to tolerate challenges or stress. This friction can be seen in social interactions these days, and its consequences are playing out in both national and local headlines.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4 31:32; “ Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” So understanding these principles of scripture, we can begin to educate others and compassionately change the dynamics of the world around us.
Recognize that the vast majority of what you are seeing is not about anger. It’s about fear and the frustration and inability to cope with it. Scripture tells us in Psalms 37 7:9; “ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.”
When people are angry, they can’t access the rational part of their brain. Their bodies move toward “fight, flight or despair and that’s when bad things happen. Instead of turning to God, people are turning to the news, social media, government or substance for their answers. Ask yourself, when God was in schools, homes, families courthouses and communities, did we see the anger and discontent that we see today?
The choice has always been up to us. You can choose to listen to the world, or you can choose Almighty God’s plan for your life. “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13