Love is Not Provoked
I have a problem in the kitchen. Every time I attempt to boil water, it boils over. This, of course, creates a terrible mess. But this is a small matter, compared to what appears to be happening in society at large.
Maybe I’m imagining it, but it sure seems like more people than ever are ready to boil over with anger. According to the National Highway Traffic Administration, fatal car accidents due to “road rage” increased by nearly 500% between 2006 and 2015. In 2016 the American Automobile Association (AAA) reported that nearly 80% of polled drivers say they experience road rage at least once each year. If that’s not alarming enough, the poll also revealed that:
- 51% (104 million drivers) tailgate on purpose
- 47% yell at other drivers
- 45% honk at other drivers in anger
- 33% gesture obscenely
- 24% try to block another vehicle from changing lanes
- 12% deliberately cut off other drivers
- 4% report getting out of their car to confront another driver
- 3% admit to ramming another car on purpose
Social media rage is on the rise, too. The BBC’s Science Focus magazine offered this observation on April 2, 2020:
“Outrage has become the defining emotion of the 21st Century, worn righteously, as a finger-pointing badge of honor.” The article then states what anyone on social media has noticed: “The Twitter hordes are waiting, spring-loaded, to call out anyone who is ideologically opposed to them. Anger is being baited, owned and exalted like never before.”
“Outrage has become the defining emotion of the 21st Century…”
Gallup tracks the emotional state of the world. After interviewing a whopping 151,000 people in 140 countries, the organization’s “Global Emotions Report” informs us that from 2016 to 2019 the number of respondents who felt angry rose significantly, placing the global average of angry people at 22%.
Paul says, “Love… is not provoked” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). To be “provoked” is to be triggered with irritation or anger. I’ll suggest a simple formula: Love begets love.
The only way to not be provoked, is to love people. And the only way to love people, is to receive the love of God. I must know and believe that I am loved if I am to love others. God’s love is the universal cure for all the maladies of the human soul, including the societal anger that is about to boil over and make a huge mess of the world.
Ty Gibson
Ty is a speaker/director of Light Bearers. A passionate communicator with a message that opens minds and moves hearts, Ty teaches on a variety of topics, emphasizing God’s unfailing love as the central theme of the Bible. Ty and his wife Sue have three adult children and two grandsons.
