Thursday 2/10/13

Ephesians 4:26 ESV

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Another area where we need to put off the old self and put on the new self is managing our anger. Anger is not bad in itself, God and Jesus were angry many times in the Bible. However, letting anger cause us to sin is sin. God and Jesus when angry never act harshly, call down thunder or rain down fire and burning sulfur. Instead, God kept sending prophets to call people to repent, and Jesus continued healing the sick. In the same way, we can be angry, but do not sin, be patient and forbearance, continue to do good and call for repentance.

Furthermore, we must let our anger go as soon as possible, before the sun goes down. The longer we keep the fire of anger in our heart, the more likely we get burned. Anger helps us detect sin against us. However, it may tempt us to respond with sin, but we must not. We must let it go once it has done the job, and respond with grace and call for repentance.