What a thought the Apostle Paul had in Ephesians 4! That we could mature as Christians to the point we could have anger at sin against God yet not focus that anger at the one who has committed it. Can we really get to that point?
If we are to excuse our anger by utilizing this scripture there are a few things we must remember:
1. It must still be a temporary anger - part of Paul's word to us is that we should not simply suppress our anger - we should deal with it. Anger that is held in and nursed will grow and become unmanageable. It will spill into relationships and make us vulnerable for other tricks of the devil.
2. It must be an anger at sin against God, not against us - how easy it would be to use this text to 'get angry' at every little thing (whether justifiable or petty) that got under our skin. We cannot deny that we will have times that we will get angry but justifiable anger is always and only directed at anger toward sin against Holy God. Remember God's words to Moses 'to realize that their sin was not against him but against God Himself'. It is always hard to take ourselves less seriously but that is basically what God was telling Moses.
3. To keep our anger from spilling onto a person, where must it be 'let out'? - If we spill it out to others then we are liable to gossip or even slander, if we hold it in then we can become toxic, so we have only one perfect choice - prayer! Read the Psalms and hear the cries of the heart, desperately trying to let out anger. The power of prayer to heal the one praying is amazing.
My prayer this week is that we can get a grip on this critical issue.
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