Category: Anger

Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,”  One of the problems with this verse is we have trouble naming anger for what it is.  We call it frustration, or disappointment, or upset, or righteous indignation, or any one of an infinite number of names which allow us to deny we are feeling angry.  A good test of anger is, Is it someone or something else’s fault? If so it is likely just anger.

So what is sin with anger? When we make someone else pay for it, often in subtle ways.  We refuse to let the other person know the mistake you see them making, or we withdraw from them and make ourselves unavailable when it would be appropriate to be available, or we gossip about them, or we get someone else to do something negative toward them, or we get sarcastic toward them, There are many other ways we sin with anger.

The second part of the verse is written only to the angry person, not to the person we are angry with.  It is telling us YOU deal with YOUR anger quickly, or you will sin against someone.

Anger is a secondary emotion, an escape emotion, an anesthetic emotion.  It is the emotion we escape to when the “root” emotion is too difficult or painful to feel at that time so we anesthetize it by burying it in our anger.  The problem is that when we are angry “Sin lies at the door and its desire is for you.” (Genesis 4:7b) Then, as Cain was told, we need to “rule over it.” We will not be able to do that if that anger has too much power.

The thing that lends power to any emotion, but especially anger, is when we do not acknowledge it. Anger will grow until it cannot be ignored and it explodes.  We facilitate ignoring it by giving it pet names which allows us to let it grow.  Examine every situation you do not like to be in and see if there is not some anger there.