Colossians 3:5–8 – Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

THEME OF THE DAY: DEALING WITH ANGER. The following story reveals just how quick and destructive anger may be. Alexander the Great was one of the few men in history who seemed to deserve his descriptive title. He was energetic, versatile, and intelligent. He conquered many lands, but was a victim of his own inability to conquer himself. Although hatred was not generally part of his nature, several times in his life he was tragically defeated by anger. The story is told of one of these occasions, when a dear friend of Alexander, a general in his army, became intoxicated and began to ridicule the emperor in front of his men. Blinded by anger and quick as lightning, Alexander snatched a spear from the hand of a soldier and hurled it at his friend. Although he had only intended to scare the drunken general, his aim was true and the spear took the life of his childhood friend. Deep remorse followed his anger. Overcome with guilt, Alexander attempted to take his own life with the same spear, but he was stopped by his men. For days he lay sick, calling for his friend and chiding himself as a murderer. Alexander the Great conquered many cities and vanquished many countries, but he had failed miserably to control his own spirit.

Anger. There are two types in the Bible. One is justified called “righteous anger.” This is the type which is jealous for God’s honor. God has this anger and obviously it is not sinful. We are to have this type of anger, but it isn’t the predominant type coming forth from us. The other type of anger, the destructive type that causes severe damage to all who receive its blows from us, is sinful. We may define sinful anger as “Unkind and hurtful responses, normally verbal, but could be physical, when things don’t go the way we like or people are not acting according to our desire.” Sinful anger is always selfish. Its focus is on ourselves and it can be devastating in relationships near and dear to us.

In today’s scripture, the Apostle Paul is telling us a couple of things about anger. First, anger is personal. He writes, “you must put away anger.” Sinful anger is never caused by disobedient children, insensitive spouses, tough co-workers, or any other trying relationships that don’t go the way we like. Anger is not caused by things outside of us. It is caused by what is inside of us. Sinful anger is not removed at conversion. We still maintain a powder keg of anger in our hearts with fuses ready to be lit. Granted, some fuses are longer than others, but every child of God has anger within that is ready to be ignited. It is personal and we own it. And remember this, people and situations do not cause anger to burst from us. We are responsible for our reactions in all circumstances. The cause of anger is a result of our lack of being controlled by the Spirit of God and Word of God. When sinful anger occurs, it is because we are reacting in the flesh, not acting in the Spirit. Anger is personal and not caused by other people or situations.

The second thing the Apostle Paul tells us is that anger is a personal responsibility to control – “you must put away anger.” I simply cannot pray, “Lord, take this anger away” and make no efforts to learn more on how to walk in the Spirit; make no effort to discipline my mind in the Word of God to fight anger; and make no effort to develop a prayer life keeping me close to the Lord Jesus to control my anger. God will not obey for me. Or you. He commands me “put off anger” and expects me to strive to obey this command. You too.

Anger. It is so destructive to ourselves and people around us, but praise the Lord; He has given us all we need “to keep a lid” on it. We can be controlled and not react in sinful anger to life’s situations. It all begins with staying close to the Lord and learning to walk more and more in the power of His Spirit and renewing Word.

PRAYER: “Father, help me to do what I cannot do – control the sinful anger always present within.”

QUOTE: “Anger is so destructive because once let loose, it cannot be retrieved”.