On reading my last post, I thought that there should be a little clarification about anger. Lest you think that I regard anger as a sin. I don't. Anger is one of the many God-given emotions that we feel from time to time. Anger can be a very legitimate emotion - it's what we do with anger that makes it a sin. I speak from personal experience - when we let anger harbour inside and don't "deal" with it, then it will come out anyway, usually when we least expect it, and sometimes many years after the event that made us angry. Sometimes the anger explodes in most inappropriate ways. It took a long time - a VERY long time - for me to learn that it is best to talk about the anger at the time you feel. Sometimes I take a step back and ask myself "why the anger?" And then I reflect on what is happening, and with God's help, can usually work out the reasons, and then I can go back to the person (if there is one...) involved and talk about the problem in a much calmer, rational manner.
I think of Jesus and the anger He displayed in the synagogue when He overturned the tables of the merchants who were defiling the House of God. He used His anger to do something constructive about the problem. And yet, this wasn't a sin, because we are told that Jesus was sinless. And I believe the Bible. I thank God that I am allowed to be angry and ask Him to help me deal with it in constructive ways, rather than destructive ways.
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