Should a Christian be Angry?

What Exactly is Anger?

Anger is defined as, “a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong.” God has blessed His people with the ability to experience the emotion of anger. The feelings experienced in love and anger are on the same spectrum of emotional obsessions. When both love and anger are experienced in a Christian’s life they must be placed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

God expresses His displeasure against sin and sinner alike. David, King of Israel, reveals how God views the work of sin in His creation,

 “God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.”

God’s anger is real but so is His love.

The King was not a stranger to sin and understood God’s disdain for it but as well understood the genuineness of God’s love and the demonstration of His mercy that accompanies the confession and repentance of a sinner. David, facing sin’s consequences said, “I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”    

• Anger in the life of a believer must be managed under the operation of love.
• Anger when experienced in the life a Christian must as well reflect God’s nature.
• Anger void of the temperance of love that allows mercy to restrain action is not only dangerous but is also sin.

Christians are warned, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” A follower of God who is in His favor will acknowledge God’s authority to impartially be the  rewarder of both good and evil, “avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

When a Christian usurps God’s authority to adjudicate offenses in their life, we will experience swift and dreadful effects in our relationships with both man and God. A warning against unregulated anger in the life of a believer is found in the warning of these words,

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.”

This warning is not that God’s grace will fail, His grace is everlasting and withstands all attacks both human and satanic.  This warning is to be applied to the believer’s failure to allow God’s grace to have control over their lives. Christians are warned not to, “give place to the devil,” accompanied with warning of the effects in our lives if we fail in this matter, “lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”

How should you respond if you are in anger? One step you should exercise now is, “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.” Do not let your anger lead you into sinful activities. You can also limit the effects of sinful anger by placing a time limit on how long you will allow anger to be active. A follower of Christ must manage their anger. Are you?