Photo credit: Matt via Flickr
Centuries of history have taught us that human beings are tribal by nature. Of course, most of us don’t need a history book to tell us that. We’ve spent much of our life trying to get in, fit in, and stay in the tribe of our preference.
If you want a reminder, think about your high school daze and how desperately you wanted to be identified with a particular group. I remember the options when I was in school:
God intended our lives to be journeys into the unknown. Like Abraham, we are called out of the life we have known to a life we could never have dreamed existed. And I’m not talking about heaven or the afterlife. I’m talking about here and now. And even folks who don’t believe in an afterlife, at least believe in an “after now.”
All of us need something to look forward to, even if it’s just tomorrow. When we have nothing to look forward to, we end up in despair (a word that means “without hope”). We need hope like we need the air we breathe. Hope pulls us into the future, and when we realize how incredibly uncertain the future is, we can see why hope is so valuable. Yet, as essential as hope is for life, we live in a world that is constantly trying to rob us of it. Because of this, hope has become a rare commodity in our culture.
Some interesting statistics about anger: Men lose their temper twice as often as women (men an average of six times a week, women, three). Women are more often angry at people, while men usually become angry with things (tools, delays, etc.). Single adults are likely to get angry twice as often as marrieds. The most common place for people to get angry? Home. The most likely recipients of that anger? You guessed it, the people we love the most.
Given the stakes, we would be wise to consider the Bible’s seven-step plan for dealing with anger in a constructive way:
Everyone is interested in the future, and to a large extent, what we believe the future holds will determine our decisions today. This episode of Life in Christ is the first of two lessons that will explore what the Bible teaches about death and what lies beyond.
