clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
The gospel and Spirit of Jesus Christ have a lot to teach Christian believers about anger and how it must be managed.
Anger is a natural, emotional response to threat, pain, rejection, abuse, unfair treatment and other factors. All human beings including Christians become angry in one way or another.
The Bible confirms this when it says, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
You see, a Christian can be angry. In fact, let me be bold and state that a Christian must sometimes be angry at certain situations in life in order to bring about positive change or transformation.
The Lord Jesus Christ, our greatest example for Christian living, was never a hypocrite. He expressed anger for people in His day to see that He was not happy about what was being done in the house of God.
“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and brought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers” (Matthew 21:12-13).
You can clearly infer from the actions of Christ Jesus that He was angry, but it was for a good reason and purpose. It was aimed at restoring sanity and sanctity in the temple of God. Thus, our Lord did not sin when He became angry with the erring religious leaders.
It is, therefore, necessary to point out that being angry in itself is not necessarily evil, because some anger is necessary to achieve positive results towards personal or community development.
Anger becomes evil when it splits churches, escalates conflicts, separates couples, divides families and above all turns out to be destructive and deadly. These things are what Christians are warned against.
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
It is not wrong for Christians to be angry, but it is immoral if they sin with it. How do we sin with anger as children of God? We sin when we let the sun go down on our anger, and give opportunity to the devil.
This means that Christians should not prolong anger. In other words, when Christians become angry in the morning or afternoon, they should not hold it to the evening. They must let go.
This can only be achieved when we learn to forgive those whose actions, words, or behaviours triggered our anger. So we can say that to forgive is to stop being angry.
Moreover, the apostle James cautions Christians to “…be slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).
Now, there are two implications for a Christian who will not forgive his offenders. First, he gives Satan the opportunity to fill his heart with resentment, bitterness and hurt.
These often lead to stress, anxiety which rob him of good sound sleep. In extreme cases, the offended commits suicide or murders the offender which compounds his troubles.
Second, he suggests that he does not desire God’s mercy and forgiveness. Christians who easily forgive and continue to do what Christ has called them to do understand that they also offend fellow humans and God and need their forgiveness.
By James Quansah
