Yes, Christians can get angry.
I just wanted to bust that myth for anyone out there who thinks that means Christians can only feel happy and peppy all the time. Believers feel all emotions, being Christ-like doesn’t stop us from being human, it just means that we want to be more like God and follow after Christ.
Anger is an emotion that everyone deals with, some more than others. Things irritate us, get on our last nerve, and upset us. And it doesn’t even have to be a big thing. Sometimes it can be that your mom keeps calling you for help with random things you’ve shown her but you just want to relax since it’s your day off. Or it could be the big things like having someone lie on you and then discovering more people accept the lie than the truth. There are so many things that make us angry but thankfully, the Lord knew all the things we would have to struggle with and includes them in His Word; including anger.
Anger is a strong feeling of annoyance or hostility. Some people unknowingly say that Christians aren’t allowed to be angry or get annoyed no matter what someone does to them because Christ never got angry. Let me tell you something, that is a lie. There are quite a few instances in the Bible where we can see that Jesus is annoyed or downright angry at the behavior of others. Once, He even cursed a tree. You might be thinking, “Who curses a tree?” And the answer is Jesus. He was mad because the fig tree had no figs on it, only leaves. It wasn’t accomplishing the one thing it was meant to do: produce figs, so he cursed it and it withered right there. Matthew 21:18–22.
The Lord knows us, He knows who we are and every issue we have. He also knows all about our emotions — He gave them to us, why wouldn’t he? The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26–27
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
The Lord doesn’t say that we cannot get angry but He does say that we cannot allow our anger (an emotion) to cause us to sin or lead us down the wrong path. Years ago, when I first heard it it was a revelation to me, “Emotions lie.” Yes, what you feel is valid and important and a part of who you are but just because you feel a certain way about something doesn’t mean it is the truth. Likewise, you cannot let a fleeting feeling dictate your actions. Paul writes in Ephesians that we will get angry. But there are three things we must NOT allow ourselves to do when we feel upset. One is sin. Two, to go to bed feeling angry. Three, to give place to the devil.
I want to deal with the hardest one to absorb first: giving place to the devil. Does this mean having a place setting for him at the dinner table? No. But it does mean that our emotions make us vulnerable and sometimes in our anger we say things we don’t mean, do things we’ll later regret or think evil thoughts. The devil knows all of this and most people don’t realize that your thoughts can get you into more trouble than your actions. We have to be careful of what we allow into our thoughts because our thoughts alter our minds which, in turn, alter our hearts. The devil wants to turn our thoughts away from God and He does this by leading you astray little by little with small things such as: telling you that you’re right so you don’t need to apologize, saying it’s okay to talk about this person who upset you, convincing you to not speak to someone. The list goes on because what we think on is what we focus on and that determines how we live.
You can’t live righteously if you’re thinking isn’t right. The devil knows this and by thinking in a way that is negative or bitter, you are opening the door to your mind to him, instead of God. That is how you give the devil a place.
Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. This one is pretty simple, don’t go to bed angry. Don’t dwell on past hurts or things that have annoyed you. This can be hard sometimes, you move on and think you’re done with it but then, right when you’re about to go to sleep, that situation plays in your mind and you find yourself angry all over again. This has happened to me more times than I would like to admit and I am pretty sure that it has happened to others. We can’t allow ourselves to dwell on anger for a number of reasons. One, it keeps us from focusing on the good in life and on God. Two, God gives peace and many blessings, but we have to be willing and able to accept them. You can’t get the blessings if you’re not positioned in the right place. Three, it hurts our ministry. We are all ministers in some way, people are always watching how you live and when they see you so angry and worked up, they begin to think you’re a hypocrite and that the God you serve isn’t real. I could go on and on but I won’t for the sake of time. Perhaps I’ll share some more reasons on the Rise Holy Instagram page, so be watching for that.
Lastly, we will go to the first command James gives to us about dealing with anger. Be angry but don’t sin. Don’t allow your anger to work against you and work against God. People generally think of sin as something big like murdering or stealing and that is sin but get this: gossip is a sin too! Hate is a sin. So is lying. These aren’t mundane “That’s just human” things. Don’t allow your anger or hostility or annoyance lead you to do something you’ll regret later.
God knows about anger and so does His Son. The Triune God knows that we will get angry but He doesn’t want us to allow that anger to keep us from Him and all that He has in store for us. Anger doesn’t work the righteousness of God, it does no good in the kingdom (James 1:20) so we have to learn to quell our anger, not dwell on it. And if it seems hard, go to God in prayer and talk to someone about it. It’s okay.
Remember this, you may fall but never focus on that fall. Focus on rising holy!