Sitting across from me in a Tel Aviv airport terminal, a lady engaged in conversation spoke loudly enough that several of us sitting nearby could hear her side of the conversation. It was 4:00 AM—not the time of day you want to hear anyone talk, let alone a stranger.  For much of the conversation she was describing a person who I assume was her new work supervisor. According to the woman, the difference between the new supervisor and the former one was daylight and dark and it sounded as though the new guy was a close runner-up to Jesus in the goodness derby.  One statement in particular attracted my attention: “Our new supervisor has such good character, he never ever gets angry.”

While I doubt the complete accuracy of this description, implied was an evaluation of the nature of character.  If this lady was suggesting that anger is a character flaw, she does not understand character.

Many people believe that to be “mellow” is always a character virtue and to have emotions flavored with the spice of anger is always bad.  Uncontrolled and misdirected anger is wrong, but anger expressed correctly and directed at evil is a virtue.

Last month one of America’s most prolific writers on the Holocaust died. Dr. Franklin Littell wrote from more than a historical perspective, he specifically addressed how Christians did and can contribute to persecution through latent prejudice and failure to act on the teaching of Jesus.  Though popularly unrecognized, Littell’s writing influenced not only his own denomination but many other Christian organizations concerning the need to aggressively work for justice.

His life’s work was the result of anger. In 1939 while participating in a conference in Europe, he attended a Nazi rally as a 21-year-old man. Watching Hitler being presented in almost god-like proportions and hearing the vilification of Jews and the glorification, he became so repelled that he left the rally.  His anger first repelled him from what he had seen but eventually drove him to be more aware of what ought to be and what could be.

If you cannot be angry about wrong, injustice, the suffering of innocents, and sin, don’t assume that is sign of virtue. Again, while anger can be very destructive if wrongly expressed and misdirected, proper anger can be evidence of good character.

In a previous century religious leaders frequently called this kind of anger “righteous indignation.” Our generation appears to have forgotten it is right to be angry about wrong. To truly have this kind of holy anger requires discernment, good decision-making, and discipline. But we will talk about those three in a later post on the character path.

Ephesians 4:26a says,  “Be ye angry, and sin not.” 

Today, remember that there’s more to good character than winning congeniality contests.
Gary Fenton
Characterpath.com