Get a group of people together who are all angry about the same thing or fearful about the same thing, speak up, and then say ‘hello’ to your new followers. We live in trying times, don’t we? We live in a time where all Hell is breaking loose! We must run to the hills, hideout, and hope for someone to deliver us.
We’re angry! So, so angry! Grr! Do you feel the anger?
We’re afraid! So, so afraid! Ahh! Do you feel the fear?
Anger and Fear Are Powerful Tools
We’re hardwired to respond to adversity and danger by either fighting or flighting. We choose to go after danger with anger and fight or run from danger in fear.
So here we are. Ready to fight, for our anger has spilled over. Ready to run, for our fear is taking over.
Anger causes us to do stupid things we later regret. Fear causes us to pursue stupid things we later regret. [shareable]Anger causes us to do stupid things we later regret. Fear causes us to pursue stupid things we later regret.[/shareable]
Anger and fear. They fill the 21st Century average American who has it so hard. Do you feel it?
Let’s be honest here…
Things are bad! Politicians are breaking their oath to defending the very laws that make this country unique on the main stage of this world. We look to them in anger. We look to them in fear.
Things are bad! Gas prices are plummeting. Food prices are steadily rising each decade. Home prices are recovering (in some places). Unemployment rates are dropping (or are they?).
Things are bad! The Federal Reserve is busy manipulating the $. Criminals keep defying those tough gun laws. Schools keep teaching math to children that kicks the old adage of keep it simple stupid to the curb (and then some).
Things are bad! We have much to fear. Much to be angry about.
After all, many of us drive to our jobs in our rolling pieces of metal (or plastic), complain about the traffic, then do something that we get paid to do (whether we like it or not), then we get back into those rolling pieces of metal (or plastic – actually, probably plastic), complain some more about the traffic, get home, and then complain about something else.
We take our fear and our anger to the screens of people’s phones, tablets, and computers. Oh, we have it so hard!
But enough of that (I don’t want to demean anyone’s justified emotions)! We’ve established we’re angry. We’ve established we’re fearful. What must we do?
The Manipulative Element of Anger and Fear
Remember what I said about being hardwired to respond to danger with anger or fear? Part of our brain is responsible for responding to danger. And when it is awakened, it overwhelms our reasoning, our logic, our ability to love, our ability to think critically. When it is awakened, it puts us in survival mode. And so we stay – forever bound by the possibility of survival in such a bad environment.
And where do we look?
We look to those who, in our group of angry or fearful people, speak the loudest, complain the most, and use the most vulgar of language we would only dream of. Tapped into our anger, they have! Tapped into our fear, they have!
What comes next must not be explained from a basis of logic or reasoning. No, that ship has sailed. Things are bad and we’re angry! Things are bad and we’re afraid!
The loudmouth makes us feel justified in our anger and only furthers our devotion to that anger, despite what alternative reasoning someone offers. The loudmouth makes us feel safe in our fear and only furthers our tendency to look to our fear in the face of logic.
Anger and fear are manipulative tools because they tap deep within our strongest of emotions. They are manipulative tools because they can so easily fog our ability to think reasonably about the perceived dangers that are before us. [shareable]Anger and fear are manipulative tools because they tap deep within our strongest of emotions.[/shareable]
You want to have a following that is loyal to you no matter what stupid things you say and what stupid things you do? Find some angry or fearful people and constantly remind them of why they’re angry or afraid. They’ll love you for it.
And they won’t ask you for solutions. No, they’re good with grandiose language and empty promises that you have no intention of keeping. And the funny thing is, you can tell them you have no intention of keeping your promises. They don’t care. Just keep reminding them of their anger and their fear. They’ll love you for it.
Christians, You’re Better Than This
…or are you? Well, that’s for you to decide.
Anger and fear don’t drive the lives of Christians. At least they shouldn’t. But we can easily forget our reality in Christ.
The young Timothy had to be reminded that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). What kind of power? Not one driven by fear or anger, but one that is accompanied by love and self-control.
The choice is yours. Will you continue to blindly go the way of any leader who simply taps into your anger or fear, or will you begin to see clearly? Will you stop giving others the tools to so easily manipulate you?
Grandiose language, broad generalizations, and empty promises can only get a pass past logic, reasoning, and principles when the hearers allow anger and fear to reign supreme in their lives.
Allow me to be clear. This goes far beyond a political candidate. It goes to the depths of our identity as followers of Christ.
Don’t live in anger and fear. Let those things go at the foot of the cross.
