Anger

“Keep this thought handy when you feel a fit of rage coming on: it isn’t manly to be enraged. Rather, gentleness and civility are more human, and therefore manlier. A real man doesn’t give way to anger and discontent, and such a person has strength, courage, and endurance — unlike the angry and complaining. The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.” 

—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 11.18.5b

There is a right way and a wrong way to be angry. The wrong way is to be driven, controlled by the passion. Some guys think that throwing a fit or a fist is the only way to assert manhood. Well, they're wrong. They may be strong on the outside but they are weak on the inside. Anger can be a mistake, which is why the old saying goes, "never make a decision while angry." A decision made in anger might be irreversible. 

Should one never be angry about anything ever? No. There's a time for everything, including anger. Just don't be so quick to rush into it. There's a . . . 

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:2-8)

Is there a time to be consumed by anger? There is no time for that. 

What separates us from beasts is that we have opportunity to be gentle. Even when wronged. Nobody "makes" another angry. Anger is a choice. 

In his book, "Wishful Thinking," Frederick Buechner writes, "Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." (p. 117)

No, I'm not angry with anyone or about anything. Why would I be? 

I'm just thinking and taking inventory. 

The point is simple: gain strength by controlling passions instead of being driven by them. 

You know, Jesus got angry but He was not driven by that anger. He controlled himself. John 2 says that before He threw the money changers out of the temple, He sat down and made a whip. Now that takes time, making a whip. He gave himself time to think, to make sure that what He was about to do was right. He was not driven by the passion but controlled it, standing up for what was right, driving out the wrong.