“Be ye angry and sin not.”  (Ephesians 4)

 

God gives us the go ahead and be angry but not to use it to commit sin.  Scripture also tells us that the wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God. The Christ-ian’s anger should be quickened by righteous indignation, meaning it must come from a spirit of righteousness and no where else. In other words our anger should be ignited and enganged when righteousness has been assaulted.

Anger should not be used to punish others or to be used to relieve one’s self from frustration or aggression. However, so many use anger to relieve themselves of stress and frustration.  This is because of the fall. Anger should be used to provoke us to righteous actions This may sound foreign but that is because of our fallen nature.  Angry reactions and lashing out makes perfect sense to our fallen nature and is used for personal relief and satisfaction as Hebrews tells us. In Hebrews we learn that when some parents chasten their children it is for their own relief and release of anger…this is being angry and committing sin. Anger should be used in a constructive sense and not a destructive sense.

What about God’s Anger? God’s anger is always righteous and when He acts it is His Wrath, Righteousness and Holiness that is being propitiated and not a petty anger. God is not servant to His anger as humans are. God is subject to nothing.

To use anger to punish another is not a rightful use. To be angry with someone over a mistake is not a rightful use of one’s anger. To be subject to one’s anger is to lose  or to give up control to one’s emotions. This is a weakness and not a justified use of the emotion God has given us.

Anger should be controlled and use to right a wrong, not to punish someone for a mistake or to feel better or to vent.  When Christ was angered and acted upon that righteous anger it was because a line was crossed and God was affronted. Christ demonstrated righteous indignation in the temple and when little faith betrayed a person’s lack of trust in God’s providence and sovereignty, or when religious pride blinded a self righteous, and prideful person or group. Christ was generally kind and friendly to the common sinner, He would eat and drink with sinners and would readily forgive those that were aware of their sin sickness and were mournful over their sin or humbled thereby.

Those that were pride-filled due to their religiousness, self righteousness, and refusal to confess their sin, or to mourn over their state of sinfulness were often the target of His righteous indignation and rightful wrath. The prideful sinner did not find Christ friendly but those that knew who and what they were found a Friend in Christ, not an angry, judgmental and off putting Judge.

The Christ-ian should often seek God to put a guard upon their lips and thoughts. The Christ-ian should always judge self before judging whether someone else is wrong, false, or bad. One should remember one’s own fallibility and proneness to mistakes and short comings. Of course, this is easier said than enacted, but whether something is easy or not cannot cloud our duty to righteousness and personal holiness.

Many times, in Scripture, a persons wrongful anger resulted in that which cannot be called good. Paul when his anger got the best of him, he lost his traveling companion and fellow laborer, Barnabas. When Peter acted on his anger in the garden and cut off a guard’s ear, Christ chastened him. King Saul’s misused and abuse of anger mixed with fear caused him to attempt the murder of God’s darling David. When Moses was angered he committed murder and later to strike the watering rock twice and losing his enjoyment of God’s promised land.

On the other hand, when a saint demonstrated righteous indignation it was honored and blest by God. David had righteous indignation when Goliath insulted God’s chosen Israel. Paul, when he pointed out Peter’s disimulation, it was due to a righteous indignation. When Phineas and Nehemiah demonstrated anger, it was due to the dishonouring of God. In the Psalms, when one reads the imprecatory prayers, it was again due to the dishonouring of God and against those that were contrary to God’s pleasures and purposes.

Reader, I’m not saying one should never be angry, no, not at all. The text tells us to, “be angry” but it also tells us not to used it to sin. A Christ-ian that is not angry does not understand righteous indignation or does not recognize when God is being affronted or offended. It would have been wrong if Christ let the temple be used as a den of thieves. Paul would have been wrong not to confront Peter about his hypocrisy. Phineas and Nehemiah would have betrayed a careless attitude concerning the dishonouring of God. To smile and overlook the dishonouring of God and His God-ness is not merciful, forgiving, or Christ-ian.

The Christ-ian should be angered when God and His God-ness is affronted, offended, dishonoured or mistreated. David would have been wrong if he held in his righteous indignation against Goliath. Be careful not to confuse a person’s disrespect of you and one’s doshonouring of God. If a person wrongs you, love them bless them and pray for them. If someone scorns God or the faith, one is right to suffer not the fool. It’s kin to letting someone say something about you, but not allowing someone to say something against one’s spouse. It is the difference between revenge and avenging. To act out or on a spirit of revenge is to put yourself above God’s command of not seeking revenge. Revenge speaks to self promotion. Avenging a wrong speaks to righting a wrong done to someone else.

Always remember when Christ was reviled He did not do the same in return but left all things to God, He left all things to God Who judges righteously. If we want to be Christ-like, we must defer and give up all rights to revenge and getting even or using evil against evil. We must overcome evil with good. One must be very careful not to confuse the dishonouring of one’s person or beliefs and the dishonouring of God’s Person. David hated those and prayed against those that hated God and were contrary to God’s purposes.

To use bitterness, malice, or anger to gain relief or release of stress or frustration is not Christ-like; Anger should be used as a provocation to act from righteousness and to correct a wrong. To use anger to punish someone’s mistake or short-coming is not the rightful use of anger. Paul also tells us not to let the sun go down on your anger. I heard a preacher say that he and his wife never let the sun go down when they’re angry. He then said sometimes they’re up for weeks at a time. Of course that was a joke but letting the sun go down on one’s anger is no joke because that dynamic gives the devil an opportunity to put a foot-hold on one’s relationship.

The Christ-ian can overcome anger issues if they would disallow others to control their emotions. One should not allow one’s self to be easily offended. The easily offended Christ-ian is not using anger in a Christ-like way. I am so thankful and grateful to God for allowing the fruit of longsuffering and patience to grow within my spirit.

To be easily angered or offended is the antithesis or opposite of a peace-filled and joy-filled spirit. The wrongful use of anger betrays one’s weakness in the area of emotional control or modesty.

The Proverbs tell us that one who can control one’s spirit or emotions is greater than one who can take a city. James tells us that the person who can control an angry tongue has control over their whole person. To grow angry over something someone says or does against one’s person is letting that person into the control room of one’s mindset. One hands over the control of their emotions and will to another when, “S/he makes me so angry.”

Think about that…”S/he MAKES me so angry.” You are submitting the control of your spirit to another. You are subjecting yourself to another. The Christ-ian submits to Christ and is subject to Christ’s pleasures and will, to do otherwise is to be angry and to sin against one’s self and against God.

Reader, Be angry, and sin not. Subject your emotions and thinking to no one but God.

Godspeed.