Anger is a Fire

True community is only possible in love; do not deny that love is a verb and so damage your soul—robbing yourself and others of the beauty born in its service.  Community is not an automaton, but a living body, and the lifeblood of true community is Grace. Grace supplies the power to deliver what grace itself demands, and it demands infinitely more than the law which has no power for its meager requirements. You find your anger is full and genuine, and you feel justified in its expression. It is natural; why deny it? What’s worse, to lie or to curse? But this question deceives for to curse is both to curse and to lie. Anger shared, like love, is multiplied not satisfied. The flame that is not put out spreads from house to house. If a man were to observe his house on fire and say, “look here, it would be a lie to put this fire out for here it truly burns,” wouldn’t you think him an idiot? And what would you make of this fire when it burned the entire neighborhood and community? Do you suppose anger is any different than fire and the fruit that it bears?

—reh

James 3:5-12

5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. 6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.