Your Temper Called; It Wants A Day Off

What if “I’m just frustrated” is really anger wearing a friendly mask? We dive into the rising tide of quick tempers and explore a wiser, calmer alternative anchored in patience, repair, and faith. A memorable parable about a boy, a bag of nails, and a battered fence shows how even small outbursts leave marks that apologies alone can’t erase, while Scripture points us toward a slower, steadier way to respond when the heat rises.
If you’ve noticed your patience thinning or your voice getting sharper, this conversation offers a reset toward light, forgiveness, and steady love.

Chapters

• 0:05 Welcome And Daily Format
• 0:22 The Rise Of Anger And Frustration
• 1:09 Wisdom From Ecclesiastes And Proverbs
• 1:44 The Boy, The Nails, And The Fence
• 3:27 Healing, Forgiveness, And James’ Counsel
• 4:36 Invitation To Peace And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:05

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and let me help you start your day right. I recently came across a study that was talking about anger. And I guess really it was no surprise that they indicated that levels of anger have increased dramatically across society. And not only are we getting much more angry, we're getting angry much more quickly. Now your first response to that might be I'm not really getting more angry, but I am getting more frustrated. I have some news for you that you may not like. Frustration is just another word for anger. When we are frustrated with something or someone, there's a part of us that is angry about the situation or angry with the person. There's still an increase in anger. So when we talk about an increase in anger, we're talking about that increase in frustration. And the Bible does have a lot to say about anger. Here's just a couple of things from the Old Testament. Ecclesiastes 7 verse 9 says, Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool. Over in Proverbs 15 verse 18, a hot tempered person starts fights. A cool tempered person stops them. We tend to view our anger and frustration as just an expression of our innermost battles, but we don't recognize often how much those innermost battles when they're expressed in a very negative way impact the people around us. Let me share this story with you. There was once a young boy who had a very bad temper. So his dad decided to teach him a lesson. He gave the boy a bag of nails, and he told them that each time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence. The very next day the boy hammered in thirty seven nails. He was mad, he was mad a lot. But over the course of time he began to control his temper, and eventually the number of nails began to fall as each day passed. It didn't take long for the boy to realize that holding his temper was a whole lot less work than hammering the nails every day. And finally the day came when he did not put a single nail into the fence. He felt so proud of himself that he ran to his father and told him that he had not lost his temper the whole day. His dad was very pleased, and told the boy that now he could start pulling out nails. He could pull out one nail every day that he didn't lose his temper. Several weeks went by, and finally the day came when the boy was able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. Very gently the father took his son and led him to the fence. You've done good, my son, he smiled. But look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. The boy listened carefully as his father continued to talk to him. It's just the same with anger. Anger leaves scars behind, and despite the number of times that you say you're sorry, the wound can still be there. When we lose our temper with our friends and with our family, even when we go back and apologize, we leave scars. Every time we lose our temper on someone, we're putting a nail hole into their soul. And those scars are hard to heal. Fortunately, because of God's love for us, He helps to heal those things as we learn to forgive those who have harmed us by their anger. But that doesn't give us a right to be angry with people. James gives us some more information in James chapter 1, 19 and 20. It says, Understand this, my brothers and sisters. You must be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. What does God want in our lives, even in the middle of chaos and even in the middle of the fights and the frustrations of everything around us? He wants us to be people of light, not people of darkness. He wants us to be people of forgiveness, patience, care, love. Have you found yourself getting more angry lately? Has your frustration level increased to the point where you're vocalizing it? Then maybe we need to take a step back. We need to look at the holes that we're putting into the people around us. And we need to seek their forgiveness, and we need to seek God's forgiveness. And then learn to control our anger and our frustration by bringing it all to Christ and let Him work inside of us. Remember the words of Jesus where he said, Cast your burdens on me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Let Christ help ease your burdens and give you peace in your hearts instead. Let's be people of light and love. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.