Question: Not one person at my job wished me a happy birthday. This made me very angry and hurt, but I just put on my game face and kept smiling at everyone. Should I have told them how mean I really think they are?

Answer: No. In this case, it could have been many reasons for their lack of birthday greetings. Maybe they didn’t know it was your birthday. Or, maybe they weren’t sure you wanted to be recognized as being another year older. Some strict business climates today may even consider such greetings as getting too personal! Who knows!

The bottom line is that if this behavior was unusual for your co-workers, maybe you should have mentioned to them how happy you felt that day because it was your birthday. Most decent people would respond with “Happy Birthday!” If they don’t, show them Christian forgiveness and  just leave it alone. Don’t let unkind treatment ruin your birthday. After work, just plan to do something special for yourself, alone or with others who care about you. Remember, as Believers, we don’t want to let the devil steal our joy!

Also, know that getting in the habit of wearing a smiling face on the outside while seething with hurt and anger on the inside is not healthy… not physically and not spiritually.  Physically, you can end up with problems such as high blood pressure. This condition can develop as a result of the constant stress from holding your feelings in instead of having a healthy, God-honoring outlet for those feelings.

Spiritually, you can end up being driven to behaviors that go against the word of God! In fact, Proverbs 29:22 warns us that  “An angry man stirs up strife, And a furious man abounds in transgression.” (NKJV)  So, we must be careful when dealing with our anger.  Our anger should not cause us to sin by bringing  harm on ourselves or by causing harm to others!

Though we should have righteous anger against all the sinful behavior in this world, we must keep our reactions to them moral and not try to exact vengeance on our own. The Apostle Paul reminds us of this in Romans 12:19, “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written,’Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the  Lord.”  He goes on to say in verse 21, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

So, pray to God to help you deal in a righteous way with the things that cause you anger. Remember Ephesians 4:26-27 which says, “‘Be angry, and do not sin’:  do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.”

And since our Almighty God is omniscient, He already knows our every thought and action even before we do them.  Therefore our fake outward facial expressions cannot fool God. He knows our heart.

So, forget about putting on your game face. Learn to draw your peace and strength from God’s Holy Spirit and let His light shine through you to others!

Amen!