Be Angry! But Don't Sin?

Did Martin Luther King Jr. seem to have life figured out when he said:


"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter."

- Martin Luther King Jr.

As Christians we tend to hold our tongues and stop short of elaborating on anything that might disrupt or stir another soul. After all love is patient . . .  love is kind . . . love does not offend. Is there ever a time when we as Christians should rise up in anger? Of course there is. Jesus himself did. When he turned the table over in the temple and raised his voice he was angry. He was angry over the injustice of what was being done in the temple. The activities the Pharisees were allowing to happen in the temple were wrong and Jesus let them know it.

Ephesians 4:26 says:

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,"

Wow - okay - "Be angry!" What does that mean? How can we "be angry" and yet "not sin"? You see that is the key. If we are to become a mirror image of Christ, to have the mind of Christ, and to live as Christ then we must take upon those characteristics, features, and attributes of Christ. God is a righteous God in every way. Everything about him is righteous - even his anger - even the moments he chose to express his anger.

 I read from Bible.org: "There is the “anger of man” which “does not achieve the righteousness of God” (James 1:20), and the anger which is an expression of God’s righteousness. We are commanded in our text to be angry in a way that is righteous, that is a reflection of God."

We often become confused between the two. I have seen others rise up with a fleshly anger and declare that it was righteous anger - I've done it myself. I have also seen Christians sit idle and do nothing when it was the perfect time to rise up with a righteous anger.

There were times and moments when God rose up in anger and there will be times when we should do so as well. But we have become a world where if or when a Christian rises up in "righteous anger" our hands are slapped and we are left to feel guilt and shame over our actions. So we sit idle and watch - doing and saying nothing. Just as Martin Luther King Jr. said - truly that is the day our lives begin to end.

My prayer is that we do not remain silent about things that matter - not only to us - but especially to God. May we become everything Christ created us to be - using every passion and emotion he equipped us with - to serve him and to achieve his purposes.

Yes - be angry - but do not sin. Rise up with a righteous anger. Let us begin to take back our land - and journey with fire and a passion for God.