45
" First, notice the weather. “Our Father . . . makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5: 45). We need sun and rain in order to have food, and God doesn’t discriminate in doing basic good. Can you do that too? Second, notice how even bad people treat their friends right. “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”( Matthew 5: 46). Can you take it a step up from bad people? Third, notice how all people everywhere recognize a special bond between family members. “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?”( Matthew 5: 47). Can you take it a step up from the us-them loyalty that comes naturally to everyone? "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
46
" Second, Jimmy lived in a universe that featured him. Everything was all about one all-important, all-offended being. Every scene in his film, every page of his book, every news story in his daily paper circled around Jimmy—but he was never an agent or cause of anything. Every person, event, place, and object existed only to the degree that it affected his pleasure or displeasure. And because every other character in the story had dedicated his or her life to making Jimmy miserable, he felt entitled to this modus operandi of bland, cold vengeance. "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
47
" We often think that an “anger problem” must mean some major personal or interpersonal trouble. We think that the main sins to be solved are the violence, the tantrums, the arguing, the rancor, the deep-seated bitterness, the sour attitude. It’s true, these are serious business. If they remain unsolved, human life becomes a living hell. But in my experience, I’ve found that it’s often best to start with little problems. Disentangle your complaining. Come out to the clear, firm alternative. How on earth does a sour, negative attitude become a sweet, constructive spirit? Learn that and you’ve learned how to live well. You learn the secret of contentment (Philippians 4: 11–12). "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
54
" This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; This is not the end but it is the road; all does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified. "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
55
" It’s simply unvarnished pride, acting as if I am God, as if the universe revolves around me and my desires. With good reason, pride is the first of the classic seven deadly sins. Most people think of pride as “thinking you’re superior to other people.” That’s part of it, but the deeper meaning is simply thinking that life is all about me. Most temper tantrums in traffic, most road rage, most tense irritation have pride as the straightforward cause. A temper tantrum in traffic plays out big, bad things in a small corner of life. "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
56
" Mercy is an entirely different way of reacting to offenses, to things we think are wrong. Think about this: mercy is not a non-reactive indifference—because it cares. And it’s the furthest thing from approval—because what’s happening is wrong. Mercy includes a component of forceful anger, but anger’s typical hostility, vindictiveness, and destructiveness does not dominate. True mercy proceeds hand in hand with true justice. It brings mercy to victims by bringing justice. While working hand in hand with justice, it offers mercy to violators. Mercy contains a combination of attitudes and actions that proceed in a constructive, instead of destructive, way. Mercy, including its component of constructive anger, is an amazing act of love. It’s how we love in the face of something wrong. I can know something is utterly wrong, yet I can act constructively. "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
57
" To actually make peace, where open wrong, hostility, and destruction now operate, is the hardest and best work in the world. It involves saying true words that some people might not like to hear: “That’s wrong. Let’s solve it.” It involves confronting evils, rescuing victims, calling wrongdoers to accountability: “You can’t treat people that way.” It involves anger on behalf of victims and to the face of victimizers. But such merciful anger always maintains its sense of proportion, its perspective, and its constructive purpose. The process of problem-solving, of peacemaking—of making right what is wrong—is often long and hard. It takes honesty. It’s almost always complicated and uncomfortable. You’ll need patience yet again. You’ll need to forgive again. You’ll need more charity. You’ll need to check your attitudes, words, and actions. You’ll need the Holy Spirit to mediate the mercy and strength of Christ in order for you to do it in some semblance of the right way. You will often need forgiveness yourself as you stumble in your peacemaking. When you fail to be merciful as your Father in heaven has been merciful to you in Christ, you will have to call out for mercy from above. And yet you’ll continue to pursue the constructive conflict with darkness because that is the way redemption is accomplished. "
― David A. Powlison , Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness