- Anger is something that you need to control so that it doesn’t control you. Eph. 4:26 says, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath."
a. It is not a sin to get mad about some things, as long as you don’t sin in the process. Things like retaliation (Rom. 12:17-21), cursing (Ps. 59:12), slander (Prov. 10:18), gossip (Prov. 18:8), fighting (Gal. 5:15), verbal abuse (Prov. 12:18), and so forth are sins that are committed in response to anger.
b. If you can’t get over the anger by sun down, you have a problem that goes beyond what this verse allows, and you need to get it fixed. Otherwise, it will turn to bitterness and others will get hurt (Heb. 12:14-15). So deal with it or let it go forever.
- Be sure that you have a just cause for you anger. Matt 5:22 says, "Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." Jesus certainly had just cause to be angry with the moneychangers who had turned his house of prayer into a den of thieves. The Galatians, on the other hand, were certainly wrong for getting mad at Paul for telling them the truth about their legalistic ways (Gal. 4:16).
- Be sure that you don’t just have a short fuse. Some folks get mad at the littlest things. You need to pray for grace (Heb. 4:16) to keep away from this foolishness (Prov. 14:16-17).
- Be sure that you are not just an outrageous and cruel person (Prov. 27:3-4). Some people are mad all the time; they just keep it stuffed deep down inside. Then they blow up when they can’t hold it in any longer. They hurt everybody they love. You need to put away this anger and be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving (Eph. 4:31-32).
- Usually you get mad over things that are already in the past. So, practice what Paul did, "this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," (Phil. 3:13). You have to let the past go. It will hold you down like a ball and chain.
- Many times anger is fueled by your imagination. You keep imagining how the person you’re mad at is doing things to hurt you. Then when you read your Bible or pray, all you can think about is the person that you’re mad at. In that case, you must yield your thoughts to the obedience Jesus Christ and let him bring them into captivity (2 Cor. 10:3-5).
- Anger is a choice. You don’t have to get mad when somebody crosses you or when something bad happens to you. You can choose to be controlled and manipulated by people who make you mad or you can choose to disregard them and keep on living in the strength and joy of the Lord. You decide (Gal. 4:12; Phil. 1:14-18; Prov. 15:1).