A little girl once raised her
hand to ask a seemingly impossible question from her Elementary science
teacher.
“Excuse me madam, is it possible to tame a lion?” she politely
asked.
I know your emotion is not a lion but
seems more like it. You would have asked the same question just as the little
girl. The answer is
yes, you can! You can actually and really tame your anger. You have authority over it – reasoning is the greatest tool of all times over this monster.
yes, you can! You can actually and really tame your anger. You have authority over it – reasoning is the greatest tool of all times over this monster.
Let me take you on a Biblical
journey – my favourite literature. What do you think Jesus was intending when
He said, “Be quick to hear but slow to
respond”? The God and Maker of man knows that the greatest weapon against
anger is reasoning. Moreover, this weapon, reasoning, must be lunched
immediately after you must have heard or seen what could make you very angry.
What Jesus meant here is that before you act, after hearing; take a brief break
to reason out what your response and its consequence will be. By then, you
would have overcome all the foolishness of anger.
I remember a young lady, when I
was a teacher in one of the preliminary centres I had taught. I hated
distraction and coming late to class was just one of my worse enemies then. So
I would tell my students never to bother coming to class once they were 30 minutes
late. Some had been adhering to that while some would dare and be sent out in
correction.
This fateful day, a lady came
in too late. The class was supposed to be for two hours but she came in
obviously late. She entered 30 minutes when the class was about to end.
Already, the rest of her colleagues who made it earlier enough to the class were
expecting fire from my mouth. I was already boiling from within me too but I
decided not to take it harshly. I sat and observed her and noticed she was
sweating so profusely. Then I reasoned she must have done all she could never
to miss my class for that day. It must have been circumstances beyond what she
could control that held her up. Despite her obvious lateness, she was not
discouraged. She still made it, whether late or not.
Do you know what I did next? I
called her closer and stretched out a ten naira note to her. That was all I
could reach for in my pocket. She looked dazed and tears filled her eyes. Why?
It’s because she never thought I could understand all she passed through
because of my class. Others felt cheated but when she showed them her bruised
toe and cut sanders while running to catch up with taxis and motorcycles all
because she didn’t want to be late to class. They later commended my wisdom borne
out of reasoning.
You see, Jesus had to do the
same thing when the adulterous woman, “who was caught right in the act” was
brought to Him. Jesus could have responded immediately and say something like,
“look at this ungrateful woman, don’t you
know I came just to die for your sin? Why would you have to compound my pain on
the cross by committing adultery? Stone her to death!” But rather, He
stooped to reason. “Were there not two
that committed the sin of adultery, why should one suffer whiles the other goes
scot-free? How is justice going to be established that way?” What a perfect
Lord of all!
Do you now see why you should
take out some time to reason before you act? Anger is quick to respond or act
and its end result is foolishness. Reasoning, on the other hand, is slow to
respond or act and its end result is wisdom – the correct application of
knowledge, power and strength.