Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — )
PROGRAM D-8021
Someone has said, “All business is people business.” I would tend to agree, wouldn’t you? As you make your way through your work-world, your career, your job, and your life, the success you achieve depends in great part on how other people feel about you and how you respond to them. Relationships can be very fragile—one cross word, one bad day, one mishandled conflict can cause great damage.
Obviously, you and I cannot control other people—those we work with or for—but we can have an influence on those working relationships by the way we manage our emotions in difficult situations. The real issues surface when we’re in that pressure-cooker: the deadlines loom, the customers are unhappy, the boss is demanding, the needed resources are missing. . .and on and on it goes.
I want to examine how to manage your emotions under pressure. If you can learn to develop the kind of discipline that keeps you from saying things you regret when you’re tired or cranky, and learn a way that helps you stay steady in the midst of whatever storm has just hit, not only will you be more successful in your job and career, but more importantly, you’ll be a better representative of Jesus Christ to those with whom you rub shoulders each day.
Ask yourself this question: Does my temper ever get me into trouble? We know from scripture that anger is not always a wrong emotion; there are things about which we should be angry. But an out-of-control temper is another matter. A temper that heats up quickly and reaches the flash point easily almost always results in hastily spoken words that are hurtful. How can you learn to control that temper?
First, pray about it regularly. Admit to God that it is a sin, and ask for his Spirit to help you control it. In James 1:19-20 we read, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” Galatians 5:19-20 lists outbursts of anger as one of the deeds of the flesh. There is no doubt that the person who rushes into anger and expresses it freely and emotionally has not yet learned to control that emotion under pressure.
Then, I recommend you memorize some relevant verses so that when you feel the anger start to rise, you can remove yourself from the situation, quote those verses to yourself, and pray that you’ll keep your mouth shut. Learning to not say anything in the heat of the moment is really the key to controlling your temper.