Is Getting Angry a Sin? Part 3

Foolish Consequences

We can seek to live our lives under the control of the Holy Spirit or we can let the sinful nature of our flesh have its way. It's a choice we make every day. We can either turn to the Lord for patience and strength or we can allow potentially destructive emotions like anger to run unchecked. If we choose the latter, God's Word cautions us over and over of consequences.

Proverbs 14:17 says, "A quick-tempered man does foolish things." Proverbs 16:32 follows with this encouragement: "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Summing these up is James 1:19-20: "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

Righteous Anger

When Jesus got angry—at the money changers in the temple or the self-serving Pharisees—it was because they were exploiting religion instead of using it to bring people closer to God. Jesus taught the truth but they refused to listen.

We can also get angry at injustice, such as killing the unborn, human trafficking, selling illegal drugs, molesting children, maltreating workers, polluting our environment ... the list goes on and on.

Rather than stewing about the problems, we can band together with others and take action to fight, by peaceful, lawful means. We can volunteer and donate to organizations that oppose abuse. We can write our elected officials. We can form a neighborhood watch. We can educate others, and we can pray.

Evil is a strong force in our world, but we cannot stand by and do nothing. God wants us to use our anger constructively, to combat wrongdoing.

Don't Be a Doormat

How are we to respond to personal attacks, to the betrayals, thievery, and injuries that hurt us so deeply?

"But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:39)

Jesus may have been speaking in hyperbole, but he also told his followers to be as "shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves." (Matthew 10:16). We are to protect ourselves without stooping to the level of our attackers. An angry outburst accomplishes little, besides satisfying our emotions. It also gratifies those who believe all Christians are hypocrites.

Jesus told us to expect persecution. The nature of today's world is that someone is always trying to take advantage of us. If we are shrewd yet innocent, we will not be as shocked when it happens and will be better prepared to deal with it calmly.

Getting angry is a natural human emotion that need not lead us into sin—if we remember that God is a God of justice and we use our anger in a way that honors him.