How to Deal With My AngerExemplo

Anger Is Righteous

There is another reason why anger can be a confusing feeling to many Christians. Some Scriptures actually talk about righteous anger. For example, the Old Testament describes God as a righteous judge who feels indignation every day. The New Testament describes Jesus as being angry with unbelief or other sins He encountered. Moreover, we are told as believers to be angry and yet not to sin. So we need to understand the difference between sinful anger and righteous anger. 

Righteous anger is always directed at sin. It comes out of obedience to the Word of God. When we are filled with the Spirit of God, we know that honoring Christ is our priority. Yet, we feel angry because we are offended by what offends God. Sinful anger comes out of our pride. We are in the center. Righteous anger comes out of our desire to honor the Lord: He is in the center.

For example, we might see someone in our church living in sin and not acting according to the Word of God. It can make us angry. We need to confront such a brother or sister about the behavior. The Scripture actually encourages us to do so. It tells us that if our fellow believer sins against us or in front of us, we are to confront such a person in the truth of God’s Word and with gentleness.

Nevertheless, we have to be careful even with righteous anger. It can slip into sinful anger very easily. We can take things personally. That is why the Scripture tells us to be angry but not to sin. That is because anger can easily awaken our flesh. In other words, if we are angry about a sin of an individual, we still need to make sure that we confront this individual with love. We are also to exercise patience and forgiveness towards such a person. It is wonderful if this individual accepts our words and changes the behavior. However, if the person does not listen to us or change the behavior immediately, we are still to treat them with love. Our fellow believers are God’s servants, not ours. We have to be careful to never become the center of the picture. The moment we do, righteous anger becomes sinful anger. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus through all our feelings and emotions.