Someone said: “An angry man is seldom reasonable, and a reasonable man is seldom angry.” Well, that’s true, isn’t it? Although the Bible does not condemn all anger—because there is such a thing as godly anger or righteous indignation—nevertheless, someone who is often angry is often unreasonable and often wrong. As I said, the Bible does not condemn all anger. For example, Eph. 4: 26 says: “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Now, if all anger under all circumstances was sinful, then the Bible’s statement, “Be angry, and do not sin” would not make any sense as the angry person would already have committed sin when he became angry. But, as I said, there is such a thing as godly anger or righteous indignation. Our world could use some godly anger or righteous indignation. But the problem is the things we should be angry and indignant about, we aren’t, and the things we should not be angry about, we are.

 

But even godly anger can turn into something sinful. It can give the devil a foothold in our life, if we aren’t very careful. That’s why the Bibe says: “Be angry, and do not sin.” You see, just as “anger” is only one letter away from “danger” in spelling, so anger is often very close to sin in life—and a lot of anger is sinful from the very beginning. So, a wise man will be very careful with his temper. As another once said: “The more you grow up, the less you blow up!”

 

My friend, we must always guard against sinful anger. And even when anger is justified, we ought to be very careful that we do not let godly anger become something that isn’t godly. Remember: God’s message to us in Eph. 4: 26 is: “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Think on these things. 

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Dennis Abernathy