"Understand this...you must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness (or justice) that God desires."
Don't take the bait. You want to. I know you do, because often I want to take the bait, too. But then we'd be just another stupid "bass" for biting on the comment, or action, that has offended us, and that we want to correct through our own force.
I was reading this piece of scripture from James 1:19-27, and it struck at a very personal level, because often when I am offended, I'm hurt at that personal level, and I respond back out of my personal hurt, and not objective truth. When I react to a personal offense, without first seeking out what God has to say about it, there's a good chance that my anger won't produce righteousness, or justice, or goodness.
When James writes this, he doesn't say to not be angry. He just says to be slow to getting to angry. Because we more often fight back out of the personal pain we feel when we are offended, we're often not fighting for a deeper truth other than getting revenge. Underneath the pains we feel are deeper truths. Choosing to slow down our anger and resisting the urge to be reactionary allows us to see more deeply down into the muck and mire of our broken realities, so that we can lay eyes on the more foundational truths for which we need to protect and fight.
James also says, "If you claim to be religious (a.k.a. "claim to be a spiritual person") but don't control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion (spirituality) is worthless." Choosing to be slow to anger allows us to think through what is really bothering us, giving us a more firm foundation to stand on when we're ready to speak of the deeper truths that have surfaced when we've given God time to search our souls.
Be angry at the things that are wrong with this world. Be angry at the brokenness that exists in us all. But also be willing to give yourself time search out your anger for deeper truths, instead of being primarily reactionary in your anger.
And full disclosure, when I read this scripture this morning, the idea of this pertaining to politics hadn't even entered my mind. All of the thoughts that were swirling around me concerning this scripture had to do with the way I have responded to people within my own personal spheres, and nothing to do with anything in any public spheres. So please read this thinking of you respond to people in your personal spheres before copy/pasting it to your public spheres. Doing it the other way will render it less effective.
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