The Hulk has dominated the face of sudden inexplicable acts of rage and anger for generations. He is the epitome of irrational anger-driven behavior. Truly, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of anger? Something like the big green man is signified. The ironic thing about the Hulk is that he is the alter ego of someone more like you and I; Bruce Banner, a well-reserved and withdrawn physicist who only becomes the Hulk after being pushed to the edge to where the rational Bruce Banner becomes the irrational Hulk.
The reason the Hulk came to my mind is due to the fact that we all can relate to Bruce Banner; we are calm and laid-back, only until someone pushes to the edge and we lash out, or at least I do. Just today I was at work, and I lashed out at someone because they just weren’t listening to what I had to say. We all have our things; you know what I mean. Things that just set us off. Mine happens to be ignorance, and accusations of incompetence and/or stupidity. Yours may be different. Maybe you get ticked off when someone cuts you off in traffic, or when your boss talks down to you, or when your favorite sports team loses. Whatever it may be, you feel like crap afterwards, or at least as a Christian, that you weren’t able to control your emotions better to show them love. This is what I mean; to be more like Jesus means being able to show love to others even when they’re undeserving.
Jesus loved those who persecuted Him. They spit on Him, mocked Him, opposed Him, but He displayed acts of love to His enemies anyway because He knew that God created all of them. He knew that His enemies were made by God to love and be loved, but the world turned them into loveless hard-hearted beings. Jesus is extremely adamant about controlling our anger.
“I say to you that if you are angry with a brother, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother, you will be liable to the council; and if you say ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:22)
What about those who persecute us, mock us, or push us the wrong way? What about those who oppose us?
“I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
Equal treatment from a God who doesn’t choose sides; He loves all of us equally. This means that our enemies, at God’s discretion, also receive blessings; they just don’t know or haven’t realized the blessing. The ability to love your enemies (in this case show love to those who anger you) can only be obtained when we recognize that everyone has been made by God in His image, and that we all have equal opportunity to receive grace from the Father. You and I will always be a slave to anger until we, in our hearts, realize that God loves all of His children indiscriminately.
We have two choices. Either to reject the freedom from anger and become the child of God that He desires of all of us, or to be a slave to anger, like the Hulk, who is unable to control his emotions, and hurt those closest to us.
