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I wish I could say I’ve mastered the emotion of anger, but all I have really done is minimize the explosive outbursts by bottling it up inside like toxic waste. I still struggle with angry.

I decided to do an "anger audit" this week -- just to see how I was doing in the anger area. Here’s the short list from least intensive to the most: 1. The Illini loss to North Carolina. 2. Numerous interruptions while working on this anger message. 3. Government forms. 4. People not doing what I’ve suggested. 5. The FedEx bill. What I’m learning about anger is that it covers the spectrum from frustration and irritations to rage.

Here’s what the Bible says about these faces of anger: Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. (Ephesians 4:31) And the same thought is echoed in another place. Colossians 3:8 says, Get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language.

Every one of these attitudes, actions, and feelings come from the same family tree—the "Get Mad" family tree. Let’s look at my anger audit one more time: 1. I was mildly irritated that the Illini shot so miserably in the first half, while North Carolina made the plays to win at the end. It’s just a game. 2. I was getting upset and even bitter over the interruptions that got me distracted from writing this sermon. Imagine getting mad while writing a sermon on anger. 3. I got angry, steamed filling out those ridiculous and complicated IRS forms and college aid forms. It took me half a day. I had to bite my tongue over some choice words I was thinking for government red tape. 4. Now for the people who didn’t listen to me, I thought of just lovingly wringing their stubborn necks.

5. Regarding the nine-months-old $292.09 FedEx bill that is not mine to pay. I could only wish them the worse—that everyone would start shipping by UPS or DHL.

We get angry - sometimes to the extreme of murder - because we seek what brings us pleasure, but can't have it. I get angry when something interferes with my satisfaction or pleasure. For example: when another basketball team ruins my party and government forms rob me of my day off or people ignore my suggestions for getting better—I get irritated and angry because they’re interfering with my satisfaction and pleasure.

So what are we to do with this dark-sided emotion? God has given us this emotion to channel us into a life-changing encounter with Him so He can repair our shattered, cluttered hearts. Rather than deny, stuff or self-medicate our anger, God wants us to face it, feel it, wrestle with it, and run to Him so we can know Him better and experience an extreme heart makeover.

The Bible offers us some advice for dealing with anger. Psalm 4:4 says, In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Here are three things we can do when the warning light of anger flashes on our dashboard:

David wrote in Psalm 37:7-8, Be still in the presence of the LORD, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others--it only leads to harm.

2. Ponder my anger and shortcomings. Before you take action, do an anger audit. Evaluate your anger. Ask yourself these questions. What’s keeping me from getting satisfaction? What’s not fair? What’s the injustice being done to me? Is this how I want to live and relate to God? How am I contributing to the angry situation? Is there sin or shortcomings that I see in others that I’m ignoring in myself? Anger should lead us into a silent pondering rather than a direct action to control or destroy.

We need to understand God’s anger. Calling a timeout on our anger gives us the opportunity to reflect on God’s anger. God’s anger goes beyond destruction and on to redemption and restoration. He demonstrates a righteous kind of anger that warns and invites change in those He loves. His anger is directed at destroying evil so the He can save what he loves: you and me. The greatest expression of that combined anger and love happened at the cross when God directed his fury, not at us, but at Himself.

That's almost beyond comprehension isn't it? One author put it this way: "…the perfect Son of God, loved and adored by the Father, was also despised by the Father. But that's what the Bible means when it says, ‘God made Jesus who had never sinned to become sin for us.’ God the Father turned against His Son, and for a moment, the Trinity was splintered under the weight of the wrath of God, so that you and I might never have to bear it ourselves."

It’s our anger that opens a window that lets us see deep into the heart of God so we can know Him more fully and have a life-changing encounter with God. So, "In your anger, do not sin." In your silence, ponder your anger. Ponder God’s anger and love before taking any action. If you do, God will begin an amazing makeover—a transformation of your heart. nd you’ll become less irritated and frustrated about trivial things and grow more passionate over what God hates and what loves.

Expressing My Anger. Let me say that there are appropriate times when we need to express our righteous anger toward others. But the goal is not to destroy, but to invite change, healing and beauty in the other person. Allender and Longman explain, "Anger is a surgical weapon, designed to destroy ugliness and restore beauty. In the hands of one who is trained in love and who can envision beauty, the knife of righteous anger is a weapon for restoration."

Imagine using your anger as a weapon of restoration, of change, of healing in someone’s life. God wants to turn your rage into a reverence for Him and to destroy ugliness and restore beauty in someone around you.