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Is
anger wrong? Not necessarily…
That’s why the Bible says, “In your anger do not sin”.” Ephesians 4:26
What’s He saying? He is saying that when you lose control and anger
controls you- that’s when anger is wrong. Anger in and of itself is not
wrong- it’s not a sin. In fact God gets angry.
The
Bible says, The LORD is
slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion.
Numbers 14:17
Look, it doesn’t say that He does not get angry. God does get angry- He
gets angry at many of the things that anger you and I. Like what? Like
injustice… False testimonies… Lying… When the helpless are hurt…
Now
what we need to notice is that when we see God get angry it is very much
under control and within His purpose… His anger doesn’t take Him off
purpose. It’s part of His purpose… His anger is always self controlled.
So,
what can you conclude about when and where anger is wrong? How do you
sin in your anger? When it’s out of control and take you away from God’s
purposes.
Out
of control, off purpose anger is:
1. Recluse anger…
One
thing you notice right off the bat about God is that He doesn’t lie
about His anger. He calls it like it is. Have you ever been angry and
covered it up because you just knew it wasn’t right? Anger that is
hidden exposes our false ideas about it and keeps us under its control.
Look at what the Bible says about that kind of anger,
If we claim to be without sin, we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8
See what happens? You cover things like anger and say they aren’t there
and that deception ends up controlling you. You cannot really
communicate with people / there’s no real relationships in your life /
you essentially find reasons to run from closeness to other people…
The
fact is, you either control anger or it controls you. Covering anger up
puts anger in the driver’s seat.
Another kind of out of control, off purpose anger is;
2. Retained anger…
Another thing you notice is that God doesn’t hang on to anger- Remember
right after He said that He is
slow to anger He said that He is forgiving? Hanging onto anger is
another way that it controls us and steals our purpose. That’s why the
Bible says, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 and do not give the
devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26-27
What is a foot hold? It’s a place from which he can operate. A place in
your life for him to “take a stand” a place to work from.
In
other words here’s what happens; your life is going along fine and
fairly normal and along comes a hurt. Someone disappoints you or doesn’t
love you like they should and hurts you. Now you can hang onto that or
you can let it go… But I think I’ll chew on it a while- after all- I
deserve it and so do they. Before long you find that you are having
trouble trusting other people. And silly things are making you angry.
What happened? You gave the devil a place in your life to work from-
retained anger.
The
Bible says, anyone who gets angry is subject to judgment… In other words
retaining anger makes it easier to sin. So how do you give the devil a
foothold in your life? By hanging onto anger. Retained anger gives the
devil a foothold to work from. Something happens to anger after holding
onto it for more than a day. It becomes repressed, pushed down into the
soil of our hearts. What was a thought and maybe a feeling- now becomes
an attitude that will most certainly become an action at some point.
Retained anger and recluse anger usually happen because of;
3. Rationalized anger…
Note
that God never rationalizes His anger. It’s legit or He isn’t angry.
Rationalizing anger is an easy way to sin in your anger and to get off
purpose.
This
is what the Bible says about rationalizing anger:
If we claim we
have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place
in our lives.
1John 1:10
Draw
an arrow from liar to God’s word. Whenever I say, “I have a right to be
angry. I have a right to make that person pay.” We need ask ourselves a
question: who says I have a right? What makes me a liar is when I
rationalize what I want to do and how I want to feel- because if I bring
it into the light of God’s word I may not have that right at all. Just
because I’ve decided I’m right doesn’t mean I am. There has to be a
standard and here’s the tough news: you aren’t it. And if I determine
that I’m right without looking at that standard- then I’m just lying to
myself- worse yet- I’m calling God a liar concerning what His word says
about me & listen- the standard- that is His word- has no place in my
life.
Rationalized anger, retained anger and recluse anger will finally give
way to;
4. Raging anger…
Raging anger is wildly out of control anger… One reason that God’s anger
is never sinful because it’s always under control. Unlike God, we are
born with a sin nature. That’s why it is necessary for you and I to…
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along
with every form of malice. Ephesians 4:31
All
of these are raging anger at various stages and expressions. Simply put;
anger that is out of control is raging- sinful anger. If you have it, I
guarantee you that it is stealing your purpose -often. How? Let me show
you…
It
begins with the word “bitterness” because that’s where raging anger will
end up or comes from. Now look at the rest of the list: rage
(thymos, “outbursts of anger”), anger (orgeµ, “settled feeling of anger”),
brawling (kraugeµ,
“shouting or clamor”), slander (blaspheµmia), and malice (kakia,
“ill will, wickedness and manipulation thru anger”)
Those are all sorts of raging anger; why are they raging even when not
raging? Because all are out of control anger… Now notice that in each
one, God’s purpose is stolen away and replaced by this “bitter”
expression of anger. Everyone of those things, those expressions- begins
and ends in “bitterness”… Nothing squashes your purpose like bitterness.
To
continue your study please see the brochure entitled “Processing Anger”. |