A major reality that we have to confront in what we might call an age of anger is the fact that anger often hurts the person who is angry more than the person or situation that is the object of their anger. While it is true that occasionally an angry person will erupt in violence or otherwise express their anger in ways that harm others, for the most part unresolved anger hurts the person who is feeling it. When Paul says, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” Eph. 4:26, he is offering some good advice for one’s personal mental health as well as speaking a truth for the community.
One of the criteria that Paul insists on for measuring action is only doing or saying that which builds up the community. This is a practical expansion of Jesus central teaching that all the rules of life can be summed up in loving God and loving neighbor. Anger that we hold on to tends to isolate us from both God and neighbor. You might share with God an anger concerning conditions or actions that hurt others, but the objective of God’s anger is always towards redemption. Being angry at conditions that cause little children to starve, for example, only has value if it moves towards those children getting fed. To truly love God requires us to love those who God loves, and that includes the sinners that rebel against God. Paul is an obvious example. He, by his actions, had become an enemy of God but God’s action was towards redeeming Paul so that he might become God’s instrument for advancing the church.
While, in most cases, you don’t have the power to change evil people into good people, holding on to that anger only permits them to have power over you and “makes room for the devil.” So tomorrow let us look at the strategies by which you might redirect the energy generated by anger towards attitudes, actions, etc that are less harmful to you the believer.
