How to Deal With My AngerSample

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.