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!
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