In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and
do not give the devil a foothold (Eph.4:26-27).
Self-control
seems at times to be much more than a spiritual fruit--it seems to be a spiritual art. It is
something that takes self-discipline and many hard hours of practice. A person has to go
into each day making a mental choice to restrain the reactions to difficult situations--avoiding
the desires to do or say things that will later be regretted. No time is it more difficult than
when a person feels that his/her rights have been violated.
When someone has wronged us
it is very easy to retaliate in some fashion. Perhaps we even
feel it is our right to do so--to defend ourselves--to stand up for our rights and not let
others walk all over us. Yet God says, "It is mine to avenge: I will repay"
(Rom 12:19). We are instructed, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what
is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at
peace with everyone" (Rom.1217-18).
Have you ever heard someone say, "
It's all right to get angry. Even Jesus got angry at the temple and chased everyone out
with a whip?" What perhaps is lost in this interpretation is the purpose behind Jesus'
anger. He was not defending His rights. He was not standing up to others because He felt
that His rights had been violated. He did not chase people out of the temple with a whip
because He wanted to show them that they were not going to walk on Him anymore. Jesus was
angered and acted upon His anger while in defense of the Holiness of God which had been
defiled by those who chose to turn God's house into a "den of thieves" (Mt.21:13).
The anger of Christ was a righteous anger. It was an anger on the behalf of something
outside of Himself. Personal interests did not motivate His anger, and if we are to hold
up the fact that Jesus got angry as an illustration that it is all right to be angry, then
we need to be willing to examine our motives to see if they are pure--to see if our anger
is a righteous anger or a self-centered anger.
We will get angry, but that anger is
to be contained in a manner that will keep us from sin. Our society has tried to find
constructive ways for people to vent their anger in a socially acceptable way. Yet,
what would be best to do first is to take it before the Lord and let Him show us the
root of our anger. If the root is selfishness, then any act out from that anger will be
selfish. If the anger is righteous, then the act out from that will be righteous. Though
we should understand that we will have selfish anger, we are not to excuse it, justify it
or in any way try to vent it in such a way that the spiritual fruits of self-control are
sacrificed.
In Christ we seek to grow to be angry only for reasons other than selfish
reasons. In Christ we are transformed to be angry on another's behalf, to be angry when injustice
is done, to be angry when God is blasphemed, to be angry when God's people blatantly sin
against Him--nevertheless--to be angry and sin not.
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