Are You Angry?

Anger. What do we do with this powerful emotion? Christians are not supposed to get angry, are they? This is a topic that is greatly misunderstood within the Christian community. Christian counselors encounter angry Christians every day. Many are there not because they are angry, but because they don’t know how to deal with it appropriately.

A person who claims they do not get angry is either deceived, lying, or is a Vulcan. Even Jesus got angry, righteous anger, of course. God certainly showed His anger throughout the Old Testament. Paul displayed his from time to time.

Scripture talks a lot about anger. If you do a word search in the New American Standard, you will find the word “anger” over 270 times. In most references it is talking about either God’s anger or anger between individuals. When it talks about dealing with human anger Scripture shares these principles just to mention a few:

He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. Proverbs 14:29.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. Proverbs 15:1.

In the New Testament, Ephesians 4:26-27 says this, BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.

We can learn some important lessons just from these three Scriptures. First, being aware of our temper and controlling it is the mark of a wise person. Losing our temper leads to folly and to sinful actions.

Scripture also reminds us that an attitude of gentleness and humility can diffuse a possibly explosive situation. It’s so easy to return an angry word with an angry word. I can recount quite a few times in my life when I have practiced this principle and seen a hostile situation turn into a friendly one.

It is interesting that in the Ephesians passage we are actually given permission to feel and express our anger but not so that we sin in the process. We are also encouraged to deal with it, get it behind us, and move on before the day ends. To harbor anger toward someone will lead to resentment and possibly other sinful actions.

In summary, it is not a sin to feel anger. It is not a sin to express anger. In fact, we will probably end up sinning if we don’t address our feelings of anger.