Monday, September 10, 2007

Is It Right To Be Angry?

Ephesians 4:26 "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath."

There are often times when a Christian may be bright to be angry and strongly tempted to respond to that anger. To do so is to commit sin...especially when that response is in anger. We are to get control of our anger. We should not let our anger fester to the point where we act out.

Psalm 4:4 "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah." When we get angry it is always better to wait and take it to God than to act out our lash out at others whether in the world or at home. We should not lash out against those that got us angry in the first place. The Lord Himself is to be our example in all things...and this is one of those areas He sets an example for us in. I Peter 2:23 "Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffere, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:"

Anger (in my life) has always been the most difficult area to overcome. I had a terrible temper problem before I got saved and it remains as a thorn in my flesh still today. II Corinthians 12:7 "...there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me..." James 3:8-10 "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similtude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be." The hardest thing for me to keep control of my anger in is when someone does one of my children...or my husband...or even one of my other family members wrong. That sort of thing easily angers me. Thank God I'm His child and I have the Holy Spirit to help me with that in my life. And where I know that I can't control my anger....I know God can!!

James 1:19-20 "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." Romans 12:19 "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." I love this verse. This promises me that I don't have to take care of those that do wrong against me or my family. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. He will take care of everything.

Anger will come at times...but we are not to act in anger. It is never right to do so. We may see a situation take place and have every right to be angry...but it is never right to act out in anger. Take that situation that angers you to God and let Him take care of it.

God is really teaching me or "putting me through school" in this very thing lately. There is a family member of ours that is doing some horrible things to other members of our family and seems to have no conscience about it. This angers me. I see people being hurt emotionally over these things and at times I just don't know if I can contain my anger. But God is truly helping me!! If it weren't for Him and the Holy Spirit helping me...I would have lashed out and destroyed my testimony. No matter how angry we get...nothing is worth losing our testimony for the Lord.

18 comments:

Katy-Anne Binstead said...

The first verse you posted does not say that anger is wrong, it in fact shows that SOME (definitely not all) are right or at least ok. I know this because the first statement in the verse is "be ye angry". There are some things we should be angry about like what is happening in the world, kinda like Jesus did with the moneychangers in the temple. The key comes with the second statement "and sin not". So there are some forms of anger that aren't sin until they get out of control. Most anger however is out of control, sinful anger. I also tend to believe that anger and wrath (which is what we are not to let the sun go down on) are two different things, otherwise the Bible would have used the same word for both instances. Wrath to me is more like bad temper. However I'd have to look at it further to be really sure.

While I think it is most certainly wrong to lose our temper, I also don't believe we are supposed to be a doormat and basically roll over and let people do bad things to us. There are avenues we can pursue.

Anyway that's my 2 cents worth although you may or may not think it's worth 2 cents. I hope that things get better for you!

Sis. Julie said...

katy-anne...did you not read the post? I said it is okay to be angry. It is when we act out or lash out in anger that is wrong. It is how we respond to that anger that can be wrong. Thank you for your comment...but I think you misunderstood what I said in this post although I sure thought I got it across right.

Karen said...

This is so true. I can think of so many times when I was rescued from saying something completely stupid or mean by just keeping my mouth shut and finding out the whole story instead of lashing out. There have been those times as well where I didn't calm down and respond full of the Spirit. The consequences are no fun. After you've blown it like that, you can't 'un-say' some of the angry things that flew from your mouth. Guess that's why we should be s-l-o-w to speak! :-D

Sis. Julie said...

sis. karen...you are so right. I've been guilty of saying things I shouldn't have too. Thank you for your comment.

Katy-Anne Binstead said...

I probly did misunderstand...sorry. :-( My brain is kinda fried right now I don't get as much sleep as I used to.

CindyMae said...

Sis Julie, This is an awesome post. There have been many times in my life that I have become angry and before I deveolped this awesome relationship with the Lord, I acted out on that anger many times. Now when I feel that anger and feel the urge to act out, I just pray and then pray some more. It is ok to be angry about certain things, but as you said, when we act out in that anger, it is sin and there is no way around that!

Marsheila said...

Sis Julie, you are right.. it is ok to be angry but not lash out at people we are to love no matter what.... we don't have to love what a person did to cause us to be angry but we are to just pray for that person and let God deal with it. what kind of christian would we be if we lashed out everytime we got angry at someone. I have had some times when I am ashamed to say I have had a bad temper I'm talking really bad braking things but thank God I can control that now. love your post. I love you

Rita Loca said...

Oh boy!!! I need this everyday. Righteous anger will never be self serving. Many times I have tried to justify my anger, claiming it as my right, and yet often when I examine my motives, I find a sinful pride is my true motive.

Mimi said...

thank you for this post Julie,
My problem that I have to work with.. is that I do not show when I am angry.. I do not say anything to the person who made me angry... but, rather I hold a grudge which to me is worse than letting that person know that you are angered by what they did or said..
I am working on this however :-)

Sis. Julie said...

katy-anne....Its fine that you probably misunderstood. I'd have thought that I didn't get my point across right if more than you said something contrary to what I thought I said...but everyone else must have understood. You have a right to have your brain be fried...you are a new mommy!! That makes a person's brain and body tired. Love you and hope all is well with you, hubby and Emery.

Sis. Julie said...

sis. cindy...thank you so much for your comment.

Sis. Julie said...

sis. marsheila....I love you too!!

Sis. Julie said...

jungle mom....I know I sure needed this today as God gave it to me. Especially with what I'm going through at this time in my life. God is so faithful though!!

Sis. Julie said...

sis. mimi.....you know what? I struggle with that too. Grudges are so easy to hold if we're not careful. We have GOT TO give those situations over to God and let Him take care of the people and the situation.

HsKubes said...

James 1:19-20 have always been a blessing to me in those times that I feel my anger being kindled.
I agree that nothing is worth losing our testimony.
I pray the Lord will work His will in this situation and that He will give you the grace you need.

~ Christina

Sis. Julie said...

sis. christina...thank you so much!! I know He will!!

TO BECOME said...

Sis. Julie, there is nothing worth losing our christian testimoney over. God will take care of ANY needs we have. I always think about the verse that says something like this. A man that can' control his spirit is like a city with the walls broken down. We open a place that the devil will take advantage of when we do not control our flesh, whether temper or any other thing our flesh can think of todo. connie from Texas

Sis. Julie said...

sis. connie...you are so very right!! Thank you for commenting. Love you!!

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