Toronto Raptors center Trey Jemison is learning to lean on the Lord to control his anger.
“I’ve been studying this for probably two and a half weeks now,” he began a recent Instagram Bible study, referencing Ephesians 4:26, which reads, “And don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”
“God’s tested me in this situation multiple times,” Jemison continued, “and at first, I was like, ‘Okay, God, just take my anger away. I don’t want to be angry.’ I explained to God, ‘Hey, God, I always get so mad because I care so much. God, my anger comes from me caring,’ And I’m like, ‘just take the care away from the things I get angry about.'”
But God told him something unexpected.
“And God, as I prayed about it, He put in my heart and said it’s okay to be angry. It says you can be angry, just don’t stay with your anger,” the center reflected. “And what God has been trying to teach me is that the anger isn’t a problem, but the sin is pushing me away from Him [is].”
Jemison explained, “If I’m trying to represent Christ, if I’m trying to show how I’m living this Christ-like life, but the moment I get frustrated, I start to act up, the moment somebody do something crazy to me, I go tit for tat, that isn’t really God-like. God’s like, ‘Hey…I want you to be more like me. I want you to represent me more.’”
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Jemison encouraged his listeners to bring their anger to the Lord and let Him work out the details.
His message echoes the apostle Paul’s words in Romans 12:18-20:
Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.”
The athlete often speaks about his faith and recently celebrated his marriage to wife Alex Glover. The couple eloped in 2025 but publicly shared their marriage last month.
“Being married to Alex means I finally found a person I can spend the rest of my life with and grow closer to God with and enjoy this thing we call life together,” Jemison told PEOPLE.
“I love that she is my best friend,” he added. “I love that every moment of my life that she is involved in is 100 times better. I love the way she pushes me, the way she loves me, and the peace that I get when I’m around her.”
Whether its learning about anger or enjoying marriage, Jemison’s message is simple: surrender to God and let Him fight for us.
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