Be Angry And Yet
Do Not Sin Anger is one of the emotions God created within us. As such, we must manage our anger, like we do all our emotions. God And Jesus Have Been Angry Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways’; as I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest’” (Heb. 3:7-11). God was also angry with people who worshiped the beast, as described in Revelation. Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb” (Rev. 14:9-10). And Jesus, when healing a man on the Sabbath, was angry with the Jews who sought to falsely accuse Him of sin. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mk. 3:5). God and Jesus have been angry in the past. And there’s no reason to think they’re not angry today, with disobedient people. God Provoked The Jews With Anger But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, by a nation without understanding will I anger you." Not only has God been angry in the past, He has used anger to turn people from sin. Expect To Experience Anger It’s not a sin to be angry, otherwise God would have sinned by becoming angry. But anger can become sinful, if we don’t handle it properly and control it. Knowing everyone experiences anger, we should anticipate our anger and deal with it in a godly manner. Be Slow To Anger We’ll be angry from time to time, but we must be careful not to fly off the handle, reacting in a fitful rage. We should be slow to anger, displaying godly characteristics that allow us to control our anger — love, virtue, patience, perseverance, and forgiveness. Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger The phrase, “do not let the sun go down on your anger” doesn’t forbid us from being angry for more than one day. God was angry with Israel forty years, because of their sin (Heb. 3:17). Rather, the phrase tells us to immediately deal with our anger. In particular, we should deal with the source of our anger, confronting it, and preventing it from building and becoming stronger. By immediately dealing with our anger, we can control it, rather than allowing it to control us. Summary When we’re angry, we should control it, immediately dealing with the source by applying principles from God’s word. If we do, we won’t sin. We’ll control our anger, rather than letting it control us. We’ll be angry, and not sin.
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