DON'T STAY ANGRY

Proclamation:

“In your anger do not sin; Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Ephesians 4:26-27 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Apostle Paul to the believers in Ephesus while he was a prisoner in Rome.  Paul reminded them that they were saved by the grace of God and that they were to behave in a Christ-like manner.  He said that it was okay for them to get angry, but it was not okay to stay angry or to let anger control their lives.  Getting angry did not give them the permission to sin.  They were to forgive the person who made them angry and not let the devil use their anger to cause them to sin.

Application:

We have all gotten mad or angry at some time in our lives.  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" but 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 KJV)  The Bible also says "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, 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 KJV)  Acting out of anger allows the devil to take control of our behavior and speech and we do not give God glory.  According to Bible scholar 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.  Clamor 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 and not wait a long time before we do it.  Forgiving them will probably require us to pray a long prayer and ask for God’s help, but we will be better off for having done so.