We will finish this series on Grace Forgiveness by looking at how we express anger!
Eph 4:26,27 Be angry, and do not sin : do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (NKJV)
Anger is an emotion given by God. It is a good emotion. It is a needed emotion. Unfortunately we’ve made anger out to be a negative response in our lives. Something we shouldn’t do.
But what did Paul the apostle say. He said, “Be angry”. Express your anger but do it without allowing it to become sin.
So how do we express anger without it becoming destructive and sinful. How can our anger become a healthy expression of our life.
WE CHOOSE TO BE ANGRY
We must first own our anger. That is, realize that when we get angry it’s because we’ve chosen to be angry! Others cannot make us angry no matter how they may mistreat us. We choose to be angry.
Therefore when we’ve been hurt by someone and need to resolve the situation. We can do it in two ways:
1) Destructive Anger We say to the other person, “You did such an such a thing to me and you made me angry.” Or we allow our anger to spill out with words of abuse, name calling and blame.
All these ways attack the person’s character without addressing their behaviour. Hence our anger has driven a wedge between our relationship.
This is sinful anger.
2) Constructive Anger We say to the other person, “I’m angry that you did such an such a thing against me. What you did was wrong.”
What have we done. We have addressed the person’s behaviour without attacking their character. When we express anger in this way, we can be as forceful as we wish because we are not projecting our anger onto the other person.
Because we have owned our anger, we need not feel guilty or condemned because we have expressed it in a righteous way.
Meditation Point: “Lord, when i have to address a situation, help me to remember to own my anger and address the issue not attack the person’s character. Thank you Lord that I can, ‘Be Angry’ and sin not.”
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