Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Don't Stay Angry

Have you ever gotten mad or angry? Anger is a natural emotion. The 'anger' is not the issue, but what we do about it or what we do when we get angry that becomes the problem.

The world says, "Don't get mad, get even." That is not the Christian way of doing things. The Bible says, "Be ye angry, and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath; Neither give place to the devil." Ephesians 4:26-27

It is okay to get angry, but it is not okay to stay angry or to let anger control our lives. Getting angry does not give us the permission to sin. We are to forgive the person who made us angry.

"Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephesians 4:31-32

Acting out of anger allows the devil to take control of our behavior and speech and we do not give God glory. According to the Rev Dr John Mac Arthur, "bitterness can be likened to a smoldering resentment (that gets worse with time). Wrath has to do with rage, the passion of the moment. Anger is an internal, deep hostility. Clamour is the outcry of strife out of control. 'Evil speaking' is slander. And 'malice' is the general term for evil, the root of all vices."

We need to do the right thing, be righteous and Christ-like. We may get angry, but we should not stay angry or act while we are angry. We need to forgive whoever made us angry. That will probably require us to pray a long prayer, but we will be better off for having done so.

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