Ephesians 4:26-27: Be Angry and Do Not Sin

Ephesians 4:26-27
[26] Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, [27] and give no opportunity to the devil.

We live in a very angry society.  Perhaps it is because the pace of our society is so fast it leads to our becoming impatient in almost every situation.  The fact is, anger is a human emotion and it is a part of every person.  All generations of people have had to deal with anger.  I am grateful that God in his wisdom designed an outlet of our emotion that is anger.  However, it is an emotion that needs to be handled with care.

“Anger is a divinely implanted emotion. Closely allied to our instinct for right, it is designed to be used for constructive spiritual purposes. The person who cannot feel anger at evil is a person who lacks enthusiasm for good. If you cannot hate wrong, it's very questionable whether you really love righteousness.”
- Dr. David Seamands

Anger is a healthy emotion. But, it needs a monitor on it. You might know that the monitor for anger is the Holy Spirit. He will be the one quietly whispering to your rage, that you need to let go of it. He will be the one you are ignoring when you fall into furious sin. Even if our anger is “righteous” or “justified” anger, if we hold on to it too tightly it can turn into something that is grieving to the Holy Spirit. When it comes to the non-righteous anger, fury, we need to be very careful.

“Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”
- Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking Transformed by Thorns, p. 117.

When you act out of fury, you are not going to be pleasing the Lord. You will hurt the body of Christ. You will hurt yourself. You will hurt the Holy Spirit.

Satan wants to destroy you and destroy others around you.  Anger is a way that he can use if we allow him to.  Don't be afraid to be angry, but allow the Holy Spirit to control your anger.