Wednesday, August 15, 2007

An Opportunity

“Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.” (Ephesians 4:26b-27 CSB)

Anger is a God-created emotion. It signals when relationships are less than satisfactory, when an offense is perceived, or when an injustice has taken place. Anger was intended as a corrective, to first communicate that something is not right, for the purpose of putting things back right. It also has the potential in fallen man, however, of becoming destructive to the person who is angry if he or she does not deal with it effectively. That is what Paul meant when he wrote, “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger.”

Anger left unresolved actually gives the Devil an opportunity to go to work, literally, a “foothold,” a place for operating. Seething anger thus becomes an infection that hurts the angry person far more than the one he or she is angry toward. It’s ironic, but it’s true.

The most effective method of anger resolution is the one an angry person does not like so much. It involves three actions: kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. People who are angry seem to prefer to hold on to their anger, without realizing that that is like embracing a bear who intends to eat your lunch and then you. We seem to think that maintaining anger is a way to maintain control over the one we are angry with, or otherwise exacting our revenge on them, but what we need to see is that we are, in reality, only contributing to our own stress levels and our own destruction.

Here is the reality: God could have stayed angry toward us because of our sin, but instead He expressed kindness, compassion, and forgiveness toward us through the cross of Jesus, bringing about our redemption. Only by following that same “high road” do we find genuine peace and resolution of anger, and the sooner we do that, the better it will be for everyone.

Father, Help us to not participate in the work of Satan through unresolved anger. Amen.

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