3 Minute Devotional: How To Not Let Anger Ruin Everything With John Chrysostom

Welcome to another enlightening episode of Hope In Him Today. Our host, Gary Miller, explores a resonant topic: the potential destructiveness of anger during communication. He shares invaluable insights inspired by a quote attributed to John Chrysostom, a notable figure from the Nicene era of Christians. Gary's discussion is relevant to anyone who has ever experienced anger, providing much-needed perspective on how to handle and express this intense emotion.

Miller reflects on how anger can taint even the most truthful and justified statements, leading to loss of impact, distortion of intended meaning, and potential damage to relationships and situations. He shares personal experiences of frustration from the month of April, recounting situations wherein his anger became more pronounced during interactions, possibly overshadowing his otherwise valuable ideas.

Miller delves into the wisdom offered in the Book of Proverbs, emphasizing how the extremes suggested therein – such as restraining oneself from speaking in anger and valuing silence – could be beneficial. He underlines the power of the Holy Ghost in fostering discernment amidst heated emotions, thereby ensuring ideas are kept separated from strong emotional currents.

Throughout the podcast, Miller implores the importance of considering tone and delivery when communicating, underscoring how the same set of facts articulated differently can drastically alter a message's reception. Towards the end, he encourages listeners to pray for guidance in discerning when to speak and how to avoid letting anger overpower their ideas.

In essence, this meaningful episode from Gary Miller on Hope In Him Today emphasizes learning and practicing the mantra: "Good ideas in, anger out." It is an invitation to pause, breathe, and speak sensibly, despite how fervently emotions may be roiling underneath.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Hey there, friends. Welcome back to the show. This is Hope and Hymn Today.
My name is Gary Miller. I wanted to share a thought with you today about anger.
This comes to us from John Chrysostom. I almost always mispronounce his name
over the years, kind of in the Nicene era of Christians, and I mess it up often.
But I think I got it right that time. But here's the quote, and let me just

(00:24):
share a couple of ideas about this.
Now, this message is only for anyone who has ever been or will ever get angry.
Does that, do you fall into one of those groups? Okay, I'm thinking you do.
So here's what it says. No matter how just your words may be,
you ruin everything when you speak with anger.

(00:47):
John rebuking me right now. No matter how just your words may be,
you ruin everything when you speak with anger.
In other words, no matter how true and correct or write what you're saying can
be, you ruin everything when you say it in anger.
You know, recently I found myself, I shared this in a couple of episodes,

(01:09):
I've been, I will just, I will categorize April as a month of frustration for me.
I've found myself more times than in recent memory in conversations or in meetings or in interactions.
I mean, in a variety of spaces in life, professionally, spiritually,
where I've just been sitting there and I can just feel my blood pressure rising

(01:35):
because I'm getting frustrated with what's being said or sometimes,
even more importantly, what's not being said.
Like, goodness, we should be speaking about this instead of what you're talking about, right?
And in some of these cases, I've had really good, factual, truthful things to
say about the situation or say in critique or say in an observation.

(02:01):
But the fact is, is that I've let myself those truthful things,
which are valuable, get lost or get twisted because of my anger.
Now, if you spend any time in the book of Proverbs, you know,
so much of it tells us about going to such extremes as putting our hand over

(02:22):
our mouth and like not giving in into anger and shutting up the great blessings
that can come from silence.
Right. We've talked about this recently in or on the podcast.
But I think sometimes, especially when we do have the right answers, we do have some facts,
we do have some things that probably need to be heard professionally or spiritually or relationally,

(02:46):
what we need an extra dose of is the guidance and the wisdom of the Holy Ghost
to help us manage our emotions amidst our ideas and not let our ideas get lost in emotion.
You know, you can say the same sentence or set of facts.
You can use the exact same words, but emphasized differently or said with a

(03:10):
different tone or an edge can completely change the meaning to the people around you.
So it really is something for us to think about in the secret place of prayer.
Lord, especially where I am knowledgeable, especially where I have the facts,
where I feel like I need to be heard here.
Help me, help me, help me to know when to speak. and when I speak to not let

(03:31):
my anger or emotions overtake my ideas so that my ideas don't get lost and so
that I don't ruin everything,
whether it's relationships or an environment or ruin opportunity,
whatever the case may be.
Take a breath, pause, good ideas in, anger out.