Wellspring Group

Lies We Believe: Anger is always bad.

This one gets taught early. In families, in churches, in classrooms. We learn pretty quickly that anger makes people uncomfortable. So we learn to hide it, apologize for it or convince ourselves that feeling it at all means something is wrong with us spiritually. Good Christians aren't supposed to get angry. Right?

But here's what scripture actually shows us: God gets angry. Jesus overturned tables in the temple. The Psalms are full of raw, unfiltered rage directed straight at God. Anger, in the Bible, is not the mark of a faithless person. It's often the mark of someone who deeply cares about something. About justice, about people, about what's right.

Ephesians 4:26 doesn't say don't be angry. It says "in your anger, do not sin." That's an important distinction. The anger itself isn't the problem. It's what we do with it that matters. And when we never learn that, we don't stop feeling angry, we just stop being honest about it. It goes underground and becomes bitterness, resentment or a slow withdrawal from the people and places we used to love.

Anger is actually a signal worth listening to. It usually points somewhere real. A boundary that was crossed, a hurt that never got acknowledged, something that genuinely feels unjust. The question isn't how to make it stop. Let's sit with what desire our anger might be asking us to acknowledge.

So instead of asking "why do we keep getting so angry?", let's sit with this instead:

What desire might our anger be asking us to acknowledge?

What does it look like to invite God into that space?

— Wellspring Group | wellspringgroup.org

“Why Wellspring? Wednesday”

“I can’t think of a single area of my life that has not been impacted by the Battle for the Heart process. My parenting, my relationship with my husband, friendships, the way I work – I have learned how to see the heart of people, not just their behaviors. I’ve learned greater compassion. I’ve learned greater trust. I have, though grudgingly at first, learned how to connect with others in a more authentic way by being willing to open up and share at a heart level. It has been the most pivotal process I’ve been through in my 30+ years of walking with the Lord.”

Anisa Sumlar, Creative Director

Heart Check: Are you feeling sad today?

If you are, we want you to know that's okay. Sadness isn't a sign that something is wrong with you. It's a sign that something matters to you.

Every sadness points somewhere. To a loss. A relationship. A dream that didn't go the way you hoped. A season that's come to an end. And many of us, without even realizing it, rush right past it. We distract ourselves, stay busy and try to move on before we've actually felt it.

But grief that isn't felt can't be healed.

God doesn't rush you through the hard things. He's not standing at the finish line waiting for you to get it together. He meets you right where you are, in the middle of the sadness. Psalm 34:18 reminds us that "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

So today, instead of pushing past what you're feeling, we want to invite you to sit with this question: What loss might your sadness be asking you to acknowledge?

You don't have to have an answer. Just the willingness to ask is a step toward healing.

- Wellspring Group | wellspringgroup.org