Do you ever feel angry? Of course, you do. Everyone does. If you say you are not angry because Christians aren’t supposed to be angry, let me use some other words for anger: frustrated, irritated, annoyed, exasperated, and aggravated. There are of course, stronger expressions of anger as we will see later.
When my kids were younger, there was a card game craze called Pokémon. My boys were drawn into that craze and loved it. One day, I discovered that two of them had stolen a few cards from some neighbor kids. I couldn’t believe it! I felt so angry. With one swipe of my hands across the counter, I scattered the cards and a bowl of popcorn across the room and told them I couldn’t believe they had stolen the cards! Then I went with them to return them to their friends and to ask for forgiveness.
Were my actions a demonstration of righteous anger like Jesus when he turned over the money changers tables in the temple? (John 2:13-16) Or, were they the fruit of my flesh, which just “went off?”
Anger is a normal human emotion which is sometimes sinful and sometimes not. Ephesians 4:26a says, Be angry and yet do not sin. Have you ever read some of the Psalms when the writer was expressing to God how angry he felt? In Psalms 10:16-17, David prays, Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. This wasn’t sinful anger. He was simply telling the Lord how he felt, a great example for all of us.
There is also sinful anger which is often destructive in families and at work. This anger has many faces, according to Ephesians 4:31. Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). AMP
What is God’s solution for our sinful anger? We need to admit to ourselves and mostly to God that we have this problem and stop justifying it. We need to remember that in Christ, we are not angry people but instead, already patient and kind. We need to tell Jesus how much we need Him to live through us in place of the anger. To remove barriers preventing Him from living through us, we need to deal with our past and our future. Let me explain.
To deal with our past, God has given us the grace to forgive those who have offended us. To deal with our future, God gives us the grace to relinquish our rights and expectations in every area of our lives to Him (more on that next week).
We may also need to ask forgiveness from the people we have hurt with our anger. I’ve had to do that with my wife, as most men do who are living out of their true identity in Christ. I need to mention one more thing.
We may also need to go talk through an issue with someone who has offended us according to Matthew 18:15-17.
If you have an issue with anger and need help, call us at 704-522-9026. We provide counseling in Charlotte, Albemarle, Asheville and anywhere by Skype.
Believe it! It’s the Gospel.
Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
