Are You Angry? Here’s What God Has To Say About It…

“And ‘don’t sin by letting anger control you.’ Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”– Ephesians 4:26-27

Let’s face it, we’ve all been angry before, right? We’ve been angry because our favorite sports team lost the big game. We’ve been angry because there was a bunch of traffic that made us late for work. We’ve been angry at someone for not doing their job causing us to have to do more work.

There is such a wide range of things that can bring anger into our hearts and lives. But here’s the thing…while the Bible does not say that we should ever feel angry, it DOES tell us to handle our anger so that it doesn’t control us.

When we vent without thinking, without stopping to think about our words, without any care at all…we hurt other people, we destroy relationships, and we also ruin our witness as a child of God. I have done this many, many times, and I’m not proud of it one single bit. But I’ve slowly learned that venting hurts people and it really causes more problems than there was to begin with.

On the other hand, we have the habit of bottling up our anger. Much like venting, if we bottle up everything inside and hold it all in, it can hurt people too, including ourselves. When we bottle up our anger inside, we get bitter, we get even more angry than we were to start with, and ultimately what happens is that the anger slowly destroys us from within until it’s past the point of return.

So what’s the correct response to anger? Paul gives us a glimpse in Ephesians 4:26-27…

Paul is making a clear statement…he’s essentially telling us to handle your anger swiftly and wisely so relationships can be built and not destroyed. When we hang onto that anger, when we keep it inside, when we vent without thinking…we’re effectively holding the front door to our hearts open and telling Satan to come on in. This can sound harsh or even a bit dramatic, but it’s the truth!

The devil doesn’t want God’s people at peace with one another. Why? Because when we’re distracted with quarreling and anger, we aren’t united and focused on God’s great purposes. The devil knows that it’s a powerful thing when we work together to spread the Gospel, so he tries to destroy it by any means he can…including through our anger.

My friends, let’s not give Satan that chance. Let’s stand strong, stand firm, and not let the sun go down on our anger with someone else.

How do we begin? First, we can pray and ask God to reveal to us people in our lives that He wants us to make amends with. Next, we can ask ourselves, “Who am I angry with?” Once we identify who that is, we can start figuring out what we can do to resolve those differences to start building (or rebuilding) that relationship.

Let’s not allow this day to end before we begin mending what’s been broken, and remember, God is ready and able to help us as we do this hard work.