Anger

By Joyce Webb 2024

 

Anger is making a lot of problems these days.

Anger has always made problems.

The Bible talks about anger in many places.

The Apostle Paul said: “Be angry but sin not.”

Anger comes to all of us. Even babies can cry in anger.

Angry feelings begin early in the human life.

Anger is a common feeling—- to all of us.

Anger can serve a good purpose—-if we get angry at sin —-or wrong doing—-but even then—anger has to be controlled or it becomes wrong doing —itself.

Anger is a very strong feeling and emotion in humans. It is a hard one to control.

James 1:19-20 ….Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

Using more modern words:
James says:—Every person should be quick to listen to others, slow to speak (meaning—think before speaking and choose your words carefully)——every person should be slow to get angry.

Because anger does not show the righteousness of God.

As a Christian —–anger will not help your testimony as a Christian.

Anger shows strong feelings against what is being said or being done.
Anger is your opinion of what is being said or being done.

Your opinion may be right. Often, your opinion is just different from someone else.

When you feel anger coming on—-get control right now—-tell yourself—-I can handle this in a better way.

Saying to someone—“What you just said—makes me angry.”
“What you just did makes me angry.”

It is okay to tell someone that.

Then they know that you have strong feelings about what was said or done.

Then the next things is to talk about why you feel angry.

Tell them why you feel angry about what happened. That is okay.

Sometimes people get angry and the other person has no idea why that person got angry.

That is not helpful. Tell them. See what they say.

Talk things out. Do not let anger build up inside until it explodes in angry actions of hitting someone, doing something mean to them, refuse to talk to them, etc.

The news on TV is full of stories about angry people shooting someone, driving their car into someone—etc.

That kind of action does not fix anything.

Our lives are made up of relationships with people.
We have people we work with—fellow workers, our boss.
We have people we meet in stores.
We have people we live with.

We need these relationships to make our lives better.

Anger destroys relationships.

We will get angry at times. So, we need to learn to control ourselves—control what we say, control how we look in our face, control our actions.

The apostle Paul said—”Be angry and sin not.” Ephesians 4:26

Yes, we will be angry sometimes—-but get control—do not let it make you sin and do wrong.

Paul also said, “Do not let the sun go down and you still be angry.”

Try to come to an agreement with the person before you go to bed.

Anger that you hold on to—-just grows deeper inside—it either comes out in a big blow up—-or it keeps going deeper into bitter feelings —then they are hard to change.

Paul said: Do not give place to the devil.

Anger —can lead to giving the devil a foothold in your relationships with others.

And anger can give the devil a foothold in your emotions and spirit.

A person who holds on to anger—-will find his spirit not in tune with God. Soon your spirit and relationship with God will grow weaker and weaker.

Anger is common to all of us.

So, we must learn to control it. Learn to talk it out.

Learn to forgive. Learn to ask for forgiveness.

If that person refuses to forgive you—-then that is on them. God will have to deal with them.

Here are some more Bible verses about anger:

Ecclesiastes 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom (heart, mind) of fools.

Proverbs 22:24 Make no friends with an angry man;

Proverbs 29:22 An angry man stirs up strife (makes others angry).

Ephesians 4:31 Let all bitterness, and wrath—(deep anger) , and anger and clamour (angry talking) , and evil speaking, be put away from you…

Ephesians 4:26 Be angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

Vs. 27 Neither give place to the devil.

Colossians 3:8 But now put off all these; anger, wrath, malice—(mean doings), blasphemy (speaking against God), filthy (dirty) communications (talking) out of your mouth.

We all feel anger. We all need to learn how to control those feelings and talk about them to the person we are angry with.

We need to go to God and tell Him how angry we feel about something. Asking Him to help us change our thoughts into better ways of thinking.

Be angry—-but sin not.

Anger does not show the righteousness of God.