“Do not say, “I cannot help having a bad temper.” Friend, you must help it. Pray to God to help you overcome it at once, for either you must kill it, or it will kill you. You cannot carry a bad temper into heaven.” – Charles Spurgeon
As I go through my battle with cancer, I have learned a few things. One of which is that dealing with insurance companies can be frustrating. Last week I had to deal with the insurance and before I was done, I can honestly say I was angry. Yes, I was all worked up and mad as could be. Was this wrong? Is all anger a sin? As always, the answer should be looked for in the Bible. The first place that we see human anger is in Genesis.
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:6-7
Here we see one of the two forms of anger that is found in the Bible. Obviously, this kind of anger was, “bad” as Cain had killed his brother. We have a negative type of anger that is not good for us. I will say right now that the majority of the time that we see anger it is this form that we encounter. This kind of anger is seen all over the world in our lives today. You don’t even have to look for it, it’s all over the news and internet. When you see people looting and rioting, we are seeing uncontrolled anger. When we see the hate and intolerance agar its people filled with anger. How can we tell if our anger is of this first type?
Clue one is what comes out of our mouths… 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” Romans 3:13-14
Next, If the words out of our mouths are hurtful and not lifting up, then most likely our anger is wrong. If it involves personal attacks, it’s wrong. We are told to speak the truth in love, and we are to use our words to build up not tear down. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15. If we are wise, we will control ourselves and control our anger. It is the fool that tears down without any self-control. For many of us we lose all self-control in that moment. We are quick to cut with our mouth and vent all our rage on the object of our frustration. 11 Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. Proverbs 29:11. How will we handle this wrong self-focused anger? Will we be wise and control ourselves or will we back up the truck and dump all over another person? The worst part of the whole thing is that so often the person that we dump on is someone that we profess to love. How can this be, with the same mouth I say I love you and in the next moment I’m venting all my rage and anger all over you?
Anchor In The Storm 