Anger

Today I have struggled with anger. My unguarded moments were filled with intense, undeniable anger toward a person and the situation I find myself in with this same person. I'm not proud of this, but at more than one unguarded moment I found myself wishing I never met this person. I wanted to go back in time and un-meet this person, forever changing the next 8 years of my life. That should indicate the level of anger I felt towards this person that I was willing to throw away an 8 year relationship.

Throughout the day I just kept reminding myself to not let my anger lead to sin. I then spent the evening reading what the Bible says about anger. Anger is not always a sin. When God is angry (Psalms 7:11, Mark 3:5) it is referred to as righteous indignation and believers are encouraged to be angry about the same things (Ephesians 4:26). There are two words in Greek that mean anger: one means "passion, energy" and the other means "agitated, boiling." Biblically, anger is God-given energy intended to help us solve problems. Examples of anger in the Bible include David being upset over hearing Nathan the prophet sharing an injustice (2 Samuel 12) and Jesus' anger over how some of the Jews had defiled worship at God's temple in Jerusalem (John 2: 13-18). Neither of these examples involved self-defense, but rather a defense of others or of a principle.

Anger at an injustice inflicted against oneself is also appropriate as long as it doesn't lead to sin. We are called to be slow to anger and to leave vengeance to the Lord. Anger should not linger in our hearts and we should forgive quickly (Ephesians 4: 26-27). Jesus preached to pray for our enemies and to turn the other cheek when struck. So as the day closes I am reminded to let go of my anger, to pray for the person who hurt me, and to leave the rest to God. There isn't much more that you can do without anger leading to sin.

There will always be people who will hurt you and cause you to be angry. Do not sin in your anger.