Continuing the theme from the previous post, the second way that self-anger can play out in our lives and what it can reveal is2. The person who is angry at himself may not see or be willing to acknowledge the depth of his own sinful nature.
A few quotes again from Robert T. Jones to help us see how this works. First, in our thought process when we get angry at ourselves, we can be thinking,
"I still can't believe that I-I, a good moral person, I, the great I - actually did such a dastardly thing.", Uprooting Anger, 133
As Jones then wisely points out, this thought reveals,
"Your self-anger may simply be the result of naively believing that you are better than you are really are." Ibid, 133
Sometimes when I get mad at myself, I will hear myself say that I should have known better, but to say that can reveal that I think I can do well enough on my own. My failure reminds me of my need for God's strength again, His enablement and a reminder of my need for the forgiveness Christ provided through His death and resurrection. When I sin, it reminds me again that I'm a sinner, and instead of thinking that I should have known better, I can rest in one who not only knew better but did better, He lived perfection and gave that perfection to me through His death.
My self-anger reveals that I'm worse than I thought but the cross shows me that it can be and is better than I could have hoped for.
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