James 1:20 “For the anger of man does not produce the righteous of God.”   I have a confession this morning.  I became angry at a recurring nuisance and unwanted harassment.  I received four robocalls before 10:00 a.m. and many of them were repeat calls.  Three of them were on my land line and only one on my cell phone.  I normally do not answer them and have a block application on my cell phone.  With caller ID, I normally do not answer my land line when these types of calls come in.  If the call is important, the caller will leave a message.  However, I have been averaging 7 to 8 of these calls a day and this morning it just got to me.  Many of them are now using local numbers but are from foreign scammers.  I answered one about lowering my credit card interest rates which is a frequent harassment and scam.  After listening to the very professional introduction, I punched one to speak with a person.  When they came on the line, I asked how they could monitor my credit card information.  They were about to give me a false explanation when I pick up a basketball official’s whistle and blew it as hard as I could into the phone.  I let my anger get the best of me and it only upset me, not the person making the call whose ears may still be ringing. 

A few times in the past, I have answered one of these calls in a different way.  Rather than blowing the whistle or giving them a piece of my mind (which I don’t have any extra to give away), I have asked them if they know Jesus as their Savior?  Most of time, the person just hangs up.  In a few instances, they say, “Yes,” but I know it is fake when I ask a follow up question or two.  So, what should a Christian do when something as small as robocalls continue to irritate and lead to anger?  One is to not answer and the second is to give a witness for Jesus which the person calling clearly needs.  Mark Twain said it this way, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”  This profound quote and our Scripture this week should become a foundational principle when anger becomes a temptation in our lives.