How to Embrace Anger without Sinning
In our culture, we are told that anger is evil. Anytime someone gets angry, they immediately are treated as if they need to go to counseling or "just be nice." A primary reason for the cultural shunning of anger is that we have such a bad taste in our mouths because of the actions that people have done while angry. Murder, wife abuse, child abuse, torture, racism and many other horrible actions stem from variations of anger and, because we want to abolish those things, we try to quash anger altogether. I would contend that anger is not the source of these evils but instead it is a vehicle by which evil or good can be performed. In the same way, a car can either carry a pregnant woman to the hospital to deliver her baby or it can carry a terrorist and hundreds of pounds of explosives. Here is the biblical foundation that I have for saying this:
Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord (Psalms 4:4-5 ESV).
What catches my eye is the first phrase: "Be angry, and do not sin". The writer of this Psalm clearly infers that you can be angry without sinning. According to Blue Letter Bible (which is an excellent resource for Bible study), here is the definition for the word "anger" in Psalm 4:4: "tremble, quake, rage, quiver, be agitated, be excited, be perturbed." As we can see, this word refers to a whole mixed bag of emotions all centered around anger. It can be the kind of raw rage that makes you physically shake or that feeling beneath your skin that irks you. So if that is the same building blocks for anger that leads to evil, how do we differentiate rage that leads to sin and anger that does not?
In the Bible, there are two major categories of anger prominently mentioned: the anger of man, and the anger of God. Both of these stem from the same emotional substances but their results are far from homogenous. The anger of man is simply a reaction to the feelings he is experiencing. As we see in the Letter of James, this kind of rage is not constructive and leads away from God: "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20 ESV). By designating this kind of anger as coming from man, James is saying that it comes from the sinful nature that we inherited and that we choose to continue in if we have not made a decision to turn to Jesus as our rescuer.
On the other hand, the wrath of God is an intentional, righteous response through the Holy Spirit to correct evil that is being done. As with all things, Jesus sets the prime example for us when it comes to being righteously angry.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me" (John 2:13-17 ESV).
The word "zeal" in this section can also be translated as a "fierce indignation" that is in defense of good. As you can see, Jesus' actions reflected a man that would never shrink from doing what is right and correcting a terrible wrong. He rose up in intentional response to a great evil being done in the middle of what was supposed to be a place of worship.
Keys to Displaying Righteous Anger
How can we, as broken people, ever be able to be angry in the same way as Jesus? Here are a few ways based on scripture:
Firstly, we must not be short fused There are only a few places in the Gospels where Jesus shows his anger. You'll also notice that Jesus took his time going into the temple to clear it out. He took the time to prepare a whip and drive them out. He didn't run in wildly as soon as he first saw the evil but instead took the time to process it and head into the situation at the right time and with the right spirit.
Secondly, we must be careful not to direct what we think is "righteous anger" toward those who are closest to us. Jesus never lashed out at his disciples. Instead, he was righteously angry toward the devil who was trying to manipulate Peter. In several other places, he harshly rebuked the religious leaders for being so full of themselves that they were empty of God. Jesus' wrath was always directed at the Devil and those who were acting as his delegates, not at those who were seeking truth fervently. We best serve those closest to us by encouraging them and seeking to reconcile in a loving way.
Thirdly, we know that Jesus always acted in love in any situation. Any time that he expressed anger, he did it for the love of the people he interacted with and for the love of God. The anger he showed was designed and carefully crafted to wake people up from their deep spiritual sleep and help them to see how lost and broken they were without Jesus.
Lastly, we must give up being angry on our own. By its very nature, the anger of God can only stem from its roots in God. We must ask for help from the Holy Spirit to be able to respond with righteous anger.
Can you think of any area of your life where you can see the need for righteous anger? Do you see where you were too quick to your own anger and didn't embrace love? Have you been directing anger at those closest to you instead of at your spiritual enemies? Have you forgotten to ask for God's help in your life?
If you see any way that you have acted in your own anger instead of God's anger, pray this with me: "God, help me to be slow to anger and abounding in love. I earnestly desire to be filled with your Holy Spirit even more today so that I can bless others. Help me display your righteous wrath only at the right times and the right places. Keep me from pulling my punches in those moments where righteous anger is the correct response. Help me to be soft and gentle in every other situation, glorifying you by sacrificing my feelings of hatred and resentment and instead blessing others the way you do."