Our daily expectations of how life should proceed or how people should behave, is one of our major sources of anger. For, whenever things tend to not go as we expect - the noise level from our neighbors, the quality of service from the restaurant, the behavior of our kids, the speed of traffic, etc. - we too often become agitated and occasionally erupt in a rage.

At the heart of this attitude is self-centeredness, where we are attempting to control the world and people to conform to our vision of life. Our anger is intended to drive people and events into submission. The truth is that we will never be successful with such an agenda, and ultimately it will just cause rebellion and greater strife.

Conversely, by assuming a posture of empathy and prayerful assessment, we are able to look beyond our own agenda and toward the needs of others ... in doing so, our anger centered on unfair judgment and self-centeredness is relieved and it is replaced by grace and freedom.

Chronic anger - even if passive - is a signal that there is something unsettled in one's life. Anger arises because our dreams are frustrated, because people get in the way, because our peace is disturbed, because we lose, or because people do not behave in a way that we wish them to behave.

In a sense, anger is like a dashboard warning light, and when it flashes we are made aware that something is spiritually unhealthful. That is, our spiritual "heart" is struggling. But, if we pay attention to this warning and address the underlying spiritual cause, our closeness to God will be improved ... and, what's more, our anger will subside.

Message about the anger management and anger display that is part of Christianity.