Question: I’m encountering more and more people being mean these days. Why are people so angry?

Answer: It does seem as if we are witnessing an increase in people being mean and “behaving badly!” Many people seem perfectly fine with acting out angrily against others. For example, if you choose not to speed down the road, impatient drivers will speed around you…even cutting you off while cursing you out in the process. Another example is teachers having to deal with parents or students speaking to them rudely and even threatening them because the student received a bad grade. In other cases, teachers and administrators are being rude and unfair to parents and students when they disagree with what they are being taught. Each side can get so angry at the other that they refuse to even try to work peaceably on solutions together.

More examples of anger can be seen in the huge rise in violent crimes. More and more cities are becoming so overrun with crime, the people there feel like they’re living in a war zone. Murders, rapes, and assaults are increasingly being committed – even against the elderly and small children. There is an environment where there is no regard for life! So many people just seem to be mad at the world!

We also see this anger being displayed shamelessly through social media. Instead of using these platforms for positive things like sharing God’s Word or nurturing relationships with positive pictures and thoughts, some choose to do just the opposite. They would prefer to share mean posts and comments! They forget that while they can hide from people behind a computer screen they can’t hide from God. He sees and hears everything that we do and say and will judge us accordingly if we don’t repent of our sins!

But people continue to take out their pent-up anger on others everywhere from in the home to out in the community. They lash out at co-workers, doctors, flight attendants, grocery and restaurant employees, rival sports fans, and even fellow churchgoers. These displays of anger are especially sad and disappointing when we see them coming from those who say they are Believers!

The bottom line is that when we are being mean to people, we are committing sin! We are being disobedient to God because Jesus said, “And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (Luke 6:31 ESV)

We learn from the Apostle Paul that God wants us to show love to one another just as God shows love to us. Part of showing this love is to be kind to each other and not rude (Read 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7). Paul also reminds us to be kind and control our anger in his letter to the Ephesians. “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil….. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear (Ephesians 4:26-27, 29).”

He goes on to say, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4: 31- 32)”

Since none of us is perfect, there will be times when we get angry. In fact, there are times when we witness evil that we should get angry. Even Jesus looked on the religious leaders with anger when they were opposed to Him healing a man on the Sabbath (read Mark 3:1-5). But we are not to hold on to our anger until it causes us to sin.

Believers must remember to pray to God in Jesus’ name and lean on His Holy Spirit to help us deal with our anger. Then, we can truly stop being so angry! Amen!