For the foreseeable future, the theme of the Midweek Lift will “the word for the week.” There may be times when it will be appropriate to interrupt the theme. If you have a word you would like me to cover, let me know. The word for this week is the word we know all too well, “anger.”
There are two types of anger. There is righteous anger and there is selfish anger. It is the latter that we all engage in most often. Dr. Gary Smalley defined selfish anger “as a negative emotion we feel when a person or situation has failed to meet our needs, blocked our goals, or fallen short of our expectations. It’s what we feel when we’ve placed our needs, wants, and desires ahead of anyone else’s.” This type of anger is sinful because it is self-centered. The Bible teaches against this type of anger.
Righteous anger, on the other hand, is not a sin. Ephesians 4.26-27 “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.” Here we even have the command to be angry. There are certain situations for which we should be angry. We should be angry when we see sin and evil, when we see God’s law be violated, when see God’s character being defamed. There are other examples we could cite. But Paul also wrote that even righteous anger can turn into a sin if it is not dealt with appropriately and quickly. We need to make sure our righteous anger never takes a sinful turn.
We are not always able to avoid the immediate emotion of anger. But when it happens, we need to ask some questions to determine if our anger is sinful or righteous.
“Why am I angry?”
“Is my anger motivated by a desire to protect others or am I expressing frustration over a personal grievance?”
“Am I trying to make things right or am I making my point?”
“Would Jesus be angry about this situation, or am I just frustrated?”
“Is my anger rooted in love for what is right, or is it fueled by ego and self-interest?”
“Am I responding to the situation with compassion and grace, or is my anger leading me toward destructive behavior?”
Whose rights are being violated (mine or another’s)?
“Is the truth (a principle of God) being violated?”
“Am I expressing my anger in the right way?
“How long has my anger lasted?”
“How controlled is my anger?
“What is the effect of my anger on others around me?”
Dr. Gary Smalley stated that “Martin Luther once said, ‘You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head…but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.’ We may not be able to keep anger from cropping up, but we can decide to keep it from staying in our lives and poisoning our attitude.”
In Christ Alone
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