Civility: The Bottom Floor

 

Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, bless those who curse us, do good to those who hate us, and pray for those who despitefully use and persecute us. [Mt. 5:44]  God, through Paul, commands us not to return evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good. [Rm. 12:21] In Ephesians we are commanded to be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving each other as God, because of Christ, has forgiven us [Eph. 4:32].  Self-control is cited as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit [Gal. 5:23].  The Bible is full of warnings about uncontrolled anger [Prov 15:1, 18; 16:32; 19:11; Ecc. 7:9; Amo 1:11; Eph 4:31; Col 3:8].

Despite all this, in the counseling room, I have repeatedly seen the disheartening results of anger run amuck.  Anger is one of the most difficult and potentially destructive emotions experienced by humans.  We speak of “losing it”, “going off on someone”, “exploding”, “going ballistic”, etc.  We see physical and verbal abuse; and the equally devastating effects of “stonewalling” or withholding love to passive-aggressively punish a loved one. Whenever we express anger in these ways, we set ourselves back in the forward movement of our growth and in the growth of our relationships. I have never, in 30 years of counseling and 43 years of marriage, seen inappropriately expressed anger have a net good effect. It always, without fail, has a negative effect.  If you think of building a good life [good relationships, security, peace, trust, harmony, contentment, joy, etc.] as a process like building a beautiful house in which to live; blowing off anger in abusive ways is like tearing down a wall or a staircase of the house.  We have to rebuild it! If we “lose it” again, we tear down more of what we have been working to build. If we repeat this cycle enough times, we can destroy the hope of ever building the house. Our loved ones will know that, no matter how sorry we are for the damage done in our anger, no matter how apologetic we are, it’s going to happen again. And even if they forgive us, they do not trust us. We have not given them a reason to. There is no substitute for self-control. There will never be enough apologies to make up for it. We cannot be good enough in other areas of our life to make up for the lack of self-control in anger. There will never be a justification for “losing it.” Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 5:44, makes it very clear that He does not want our behaviors to be determined by the bad behaviors of others. He does not want us to react emotionally; He wants us to respond spiritually. Until we master our anger, we are not safe for our loved ones; and we should not expose them to the danger of our lack of control. It is not fair to pressure a loved one to stay with us in a relationship if we are not practicing self-control. It is like pressuring them to stay on a battlefield with land mines. They never know when they will step on one. This is incredibly stressful for them!  Love constrains us to master our anger so that nothing—absolutely nothing—can trigger an out-of-control episode. A famous statement in the world of therapy is, “If someone pushes your buttons, get rid of the buttons.” 

A wonderful and powerful commitment to make is: No matter how angry I get, I will never go below civility. Whatever needs to be accomplished in any situation can be accomplished within the boundaries of civility. If something cannot be accomplished within the bounds of civility, it cannot be healthily accomplished, and my efforts to make something happen using abusive anger will be counter-productive.  The good that comes will be off-set by the negative effects of my abusive anger.

Civility and self-control are manifestations of strength. Abusive anger is a weakness.

Civility and self-control manifest as the ability to maintain a sense of fairness and good will toward someone who is behaving badly and perhaps not currently demonstrating those traits. It is a commitment to respond vs. react. It involves integrity matched with humility. It is not fawning or servile. It is willing to listen for and respond to truth even when the speaker is uncivil.  It encourages a civil response from others.  It speaks the truth in love, even if that truth is not well received. It does not back down from conflict, but it does not seek to incite conflict; contrarily, it seeks civil discourse regarding opposing viewpoints. It is willing to disagree agreeably, and part as friends with anyone who is also practicing these principles; and maintain a compassionate stance toward one who is not yet mature enough to practice these principles. It does not abuse, and it does not tolerate abuse.

 

Here are some definitions of civility to meditate on:

Civility is described in the following way by the National Civility Center:

 "Civility is a variation of the ‘Golden Rule’. It is being kind, courteous, polite, and avoiding overt rudeness. In community improvement it relates to higher-minded and self-sacrificing behavior. Civility is the "how" when it comes to building relationships."

 -Jay Newman & Kent Roberts

 National Civility Center

“Civility is claiming and caring for one’s identity, needs and beliefs without degrading someone else’s in the process. Civility is about more than just politeness, although politeness is a necessary first step. It is about disagreeing without disrespect, seeking common ground as a starting point for dialogue about differences, listening past one’s preconceptions, and teaching others to do the same. Civility is the hard work of staying present even with those with whom we have deep-rooted and fierce disagreements” – Tomas Spath and Cassandra Dahnke, Founders of the Institute for Civility in Government

 

"Civility means a great deal more than just being nice to one another. It is complex and encompasses learning how to connect successfully and live well with others, developing thoughtfulness, and fostering effective self-expression and communication. Civility includes courtesy, politeness, mutual respect, fairness, good manners, as well as a matter of good health. Taking an active interest in the well-being of our community and concern for the health of our society is also involved in civility." --P. M. Forni,

 

Lord, please empower us to be self-controlled and civil no matter how angry. May You Spirit be the controlling factor of our behaviors especially when we are enraged.