Many Christians struggle with anger. It is a dangerous, powerful, yet confusing emotion. The Bible differentiates between righteous and sinful anger. It also provides tools to overcome the latter. This devotional helps believers to understand anger, know its roots, and learn how to control it. Christians can live their lives filled with emotions that are pleasing to the Lord.
Walking In Grace / Richard Caldwell
Day 1
Scriptures: Proverbs 19:19, Proverbs 22:24, Ecclesiastes 7:9, James 1:19-20
Anger Is Dangerous
As people, we often get angry about things. Sometimes, we are angry about our family. Other times we are angry about our job. Often, we are angry at our children. At times, we are even angry at people or events in our church. Some people find themselves always feeling angry. How do we as believers in Christ deal with the emotion of anger?
The Bible has a lot to say about anger. It is an important issue. First of all, the Scriptures clearly differentiate between sinful anger and righteous anger. The Bible describes sinful anger as dishonoring to God. It even says that it is destructive. As believers, we need to realize that anger is actually a dangerous feeling. For example, the book of Proverbs warns us against rescuing a hot-tempered person. It says that if we do it once, we will have to do it again. In other words, the Bible insists that anger is a repetitive feeling: If we give in to it once, we will develop a dangerous pattern in our lives of operating out of anger.
In another place in Scripture, we are even instructed not to associate with an angry person. Anger is such a dangerous issue that the Lord does not want us to keep close company with people who are characterized by it. The Bible tells us to love everyone. Yet, we should keep a loving distance from people who have hot tempers. The saying, “Show me your friends and I will show you who you are,” definitely applies here. Watching people close to us easily giving in to anger and handling their life occurrences based on that emotion will cause us to think that it is normal to do so. Soon, we ourselves will start getting angry easier.
In other words, anger operates as an infectious disease. That is why we need to stay away from someone characterized by this emotion. We also do not want to be characterized by something that is dangerous. We do not want our fellow believers to be instructed to avoid us. We need to care about the issue of anger. We need to watch out to make sure that this feeling is not a regular part of our daily living. If we see ourselves or someone close to us being easily overcome by the emotion of anger, we need to seek help as soon as possible.
Day 2
Scriptures: Romans 6:6, Romans 6:15-18, Galatians 5:19-25, Ephesians 4:22-24, Ephesians 4:26-31, Colossians 3:8, Colossians 3:9-10
Anger Is Sinful
Sinful anger is an emotion that dishonors God. As Christians, we should exhort ourselves and our fellow brothers and sisters not to be characterized by something that displeases the Lord. The New Testament clearly states that anger is part of our sinful nature. Anger is an activity of the flesh. As believers, we should not operate in the fruits of the flesh. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we are supposed to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit.
The Bible lists anger as one of the fruits of the flesh, along with such obvious sins as sexual immorality, idolatry, and drunkenness. In other words, when we are given in to anger, we are sinning as much in God’s eyes as if we were unfaithful to our spouse. Anger is equally a sin of the flesh. It is as ugly as any other sin. When we are talking about activities of the flesh, we are referring to our old life, our fallen nature. It is the life that Christ saved us from.
When Jesus redeemed us, He regenerated us and made us new people—His new creation. He also gave us the Holy Spirit. We are now new individuals who have access to a completely different way of living. The Bible often describes our spiritual birth in terms of clothing. It says that in a new life we are supposed to put off certain things. At the same time, we are to put on other things. We have the capacity to do that in Christ. The Scripture encourages us to put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, or any other abusive speech from our mouth. These are attitudes and behaviors that we need to recognize as sinful. Moreover, we have the capacity in Christ not to repeat them again. We are not slaves to sin.
In other words, the first step in our deliverance from the emotion of anger is to regard it as sinful—as an activity of the flesh. The Bible tells us that we need to crucify our flesh daily and live according to the Spirit. The fruits of the Spirit include patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. God gives us access to these emotions as His children. All we need to do is to make an effort to live according to the Spirit, not according to our angry flesh.
Day 3
Scriptures: Proverbs 13:10, Proverbs 21:24, Philippians 2:3, Colossians 3:21, James 1:19-20, James 4:1-8
Anger Is Prideful
To better deal with anger as believers, we need to understand its roots. Fleshly anger is rooted in pride. No matter when, why, or how we get angry, we are always in the center of the picture. We are often angry when people do not agree with us. We value ourselves and our opinions above those of others and get mad when they refuse to see things our way. This is especially true about people under our authority.
We must be cautious not to discipline our children out of selfish frustration or pride. Our discipline should be rooted in a desire to nurture and guide them in the ways of the Lord, recognizing that they are gifts from God and not sources of personal validation.
A similar thing can happen at work. A new co-worker might make us angry when they do not want to do something the way we want them to do it. Our ego is affected. We feel hurt and unappreciated because we think that we know best, so we get angry. The root of human anger is always pride. We feel indignant when others do not agree with us because we think that they are making a mistake. We also believe that when we get angry, we will convince these people to do the right thing. We will prevent them from making an error. We might even prevent them from sinning with our anger, right?
Wrong. That is not at all how the Lord sees the matter. The Scriptures clearly tell us that human anger does not produce God’s righteousness. If we are really honest with ourselves, we might admit that the manner in which our co-worker or our children want to do a certain thing might not be wrong, it might just be different. Sometimes, our pride blinds us to seeing that another person’s opinion or action might be as good as or even better than our own. We need to keep our pride in check. When we stay humble, it will be much harder for us to get angry.
Day 4
Scriptures: Psalms 37:8-9, Proverbs 14:29, Proverbs 29:11, Proverbs 29:22, Ecclesiastes 7:9, James 1:19-20
Anger is Foolish
Besides telling us that anger is sinful and dangerous, the Bible repeatedly says something else about anger. It calls this emotion foolish. One biblical proverb states that a quick-tempered person displays foolishness. Another proverb says that fools give full expression to their anger. Yet, another Scripture echoes this sentiment by saying that anger sits in the laps of fools.
These are some very strong statements. In fact, these truths should definitely affect our ego. After all, no one wants to be called a fool by God Himself. So we need to ask ourselves: Why is anger foolish? The answer lies in the same Scriptures that talk about anger’s folly. Every time the Book of Proverbs describes anger, it also contrasts it with patience. Anger is a powerful emotion; it consumes us. In fact, the Bible connects anger with anxiety and says that it leads to evil. When we are angry, we are overwhelmed by this emotion and we cannot think about anything else. We cannot reason and see any other options or solutions to a situation. Our mind says, “My way or the highway,” and our entire body enters a “fight or flight mode.” This happens because we, our pride, or our opinions, feel threatened. When we are angry, we want to attack the person who causes us to feel this way.
This, however, is foolish. We might not be threatened. People who disagree with us might have a better solution to the problem. Even if others are wrong, when we attack them in anger, they will not listen to us. They will only want to fight back. That is why the Scripture states that anger causes striving. Patience, however, is the opposite of anger.
Patience tells us to think, to reason, to weigh out all the options, and to wait for the best solution to a situation. When we patiently present our opinions to others instead of attacking them in anger, they might be much more inclined to listen to us. When we are patient, we keep our mind and body away from unnecessary stress that the emotion of anger causes us. That is why the New Testament instructs us to be quick only to listen, but slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Patience is that “slow and steady” which wins the race of life.
Day 5
Scriptures: Psalms 7:11, Matthew 21:12-13, Mark 3:5, Luke 17:3, Romans 14:4, Galatians 6:1-5, Ephesians 4:26
Anger Is Righteous
There is another reason why anger can be a confusing feeling to many Christians. Some Scriptures actually talk about righteous anger. For example, the Old Testament describes God as a righteous judge who feels indignation every day. The New Testament describes Jesus as being angry with unbelief or other sins He encountered. Moreover, we are told as believers to be angry and yet not to sin. So we need to understand the difference between sinful anger and righteous anger.
Righteous anger is always directed at sin. It comes out of obedience to the Word of God. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we know that honoring Christ is our priority. Yet, we feel angry because we are offended by what offends God. Sinful anger comes out of our pride. We are in the center. Righteous anger comes out of our desire to honor the Lord: He is in the center.
For example, we might see someone in our church living in sin and not acting according to the Word of God. It can make us angry. We need to confront such a brother or sister about the behavior. The Scripture actually encourages us to do so. It tells us that if our fellow believer sins against us or in front of us, we are to confront such a person in the truth of God’s Word and with gentleness.
Nevertheless, we have to be careful even with righteous anger. It can slip into sinful anger very easily. We can take things personally. That is why the Scripture tells us to be angry but not to sin. That is because anger can easily awaken our flesh. In other words, if we are angry about a sin of an individual, we still need to make sure that we confront this individual with love. We are also to exercise patience and forgiveness towards such a person. It is wonderful if this individual accepts our words and changes the behavior. However, if the person does not listen to us or change the behavior immediately, we are still to treat them with love. Our fellow believers are God’s servants, not ours. We have to be careful to never become the center of the picture. The moment we do, righteous anger becomes sinful anger. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus through all our feelings and emotions.
Day 6
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 5:9, Ephesians 4:31, Colossians 1:10, James 1:20, James 4:6, James 4:10, Hebrews 12:2
Anger Is Displeasing to the Lord
Anger is a problem for many Christians because it is confusing, it is powerful, and it is dangerous. A lot of times, we also feel justified in our anger: we get angry when we think a person or a situation causing the anger is wrong. We want to correct the matter. The Scripture, however, tells us that the righteousness of God is not achieved in our anger. We need to overcome this emotion. Overcoming anger is a battle that starts in our minds. We must remember that our prideful anger is sinful. It is displeasing to the Lord.
Since anger originates in pride, the only way to overcome it is to humble ourselves before God. We need to care more about God’s honor and pleasure than our own. We also need to care more about the people who are making us angry than we do ourselves. Then, we need to get to the bottom of each issue that is provoking anger in our hearts. The truth is that every issue has a spiritual nature.
In other words, we need to find the spiritual reason for our problem. For example, if our children are testing our patience by misbehaving, we need to remind ourselves that they are gifts from God. God has entrusted them into our care. We are to shepherd them and guide them to walk in the ways of the Lord. The most important issue is not what we are battling with them in the moment. There is something greater at stake—something long-term. We need to remember this truth. It will help us to put away anger, to seek the Lord about the issue, and to handle it with His guidance and the attitude that He gives us.
Living in God’s truth begins with us having our eyes on Christ at all times. The Scripture says that pleasing the Lord needs to be our ambition. Once we choose to regard anger as dangerous and remember that God does not even want other people to associate with us if we operate out of this emotion, we will find a way to overcome it. Recognizing that anger is a sin reminds us that Christ set us free from any sin. We are empowered by His Spirit to put away the sin of anger. Now, we have to choose to put it away.
Day 7
Scriptures: Psalms 37:8, Ephesians 5:17-21, Colossians 3:16, James 1:20
Anger Is Controllable
As dangerous and powerful as anger is, there is still good news for those of us who are in Christ Jesus. We can overcome this emotion because God gives us victory over sin. Once we acknowledge that anger is an activity of our sinful flesh, we have the capacity in Christ to put it away. Dealing with our anger now becomes a personal choice. However, we do not have to fight this battle alone.
The Lord has given us tools for overcoming any sinful desire or emotion, including anger. The Bible commands us to be filled with the Spirit of God. It also instructs us to be filled with the Word of God. These two work hand in hand. To be filled with the Spirit, we need to submit ourselves to the Word of God. Once we submit ourselves to the Scriptures, we know that the power of God’s Spirit is at work in our lives. When we are filled with God’s Word and His Spirit, the fullness and glory of the Lord live in us. In this way, the fruit of the Spirit operates in our lives. It produces a different kind of life in us from the one filled with anger.
Practically, we fill ourselves with the Word of God by memorizing it. Therefore, we need to memorize Scriptures that teach against anger. For example, the book of James says that human anger does not achieve God’s righteousness. In other words, if we want to be righteous in any area of our lives, we need to put aside anger. In this way, we should study the passages of the Bible that deal with our emotions and then make choices in accordance with these Scriptures. We should also pray for the Holy Spirit to help us apply God’s truths in our daily living.
Moreover, the Bible tells us that we are each a member of the Body of Christ. We can share our need for overcoming anger with fellow believers. We can ask our church leaders to pray for us and to hold us accountable. These tools will help us deal with anger. We can overcome this powerful emotion with the help of God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and His Church. Then, we will live a life filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit, such as patience, kindness, and self-control.