What do you do with justifiable anger?

I am leading a study on biblical peacemaking at our church on Thursday evenings. This past Thursday, someone raised a question about whether there is such a thing a justifiable anger. The term he used was "rage" and he related an account of feeling so frustrated with the political issues of our day that he wrote a scathing letter (maybe more than one) to the object of his rage.

Here are some thoughts from people who have much more graveman in terms of theological and psychological matters than I do:

"Love Is a Decision"

by Gary Smalley and John Trent

Selfish anger is the negative emotion we feel with an person or situation has failed to meet our needs, blocked our goals, or fallen short of our expectations. it's what we feel when we've placed our needs, wants, and desires ahead of anyone else's. Then we become frustrated if those around us don't react the way we want them to and we don't get our way.

There are two things we need to keep in balance. First, there is a "righteous" anger that stands up against sin. In Ephesians 4, there is a clear command to be angry over the things that would grieve God's heart. "When you are angry, do not sin" (verse 26). Biblically, two wrongs never equal one right. Even if we become righteously angry over some anger-producing situation in our lives or the lives of others, we are never justified in reacting in a sinful way.

Second, try as we might by logical reason, we will not always be able to avoid an immediate emotion. If someone cuts in front of us on the freeway, our instantaneous reaction may be anger. There's nothing wrong about anger at this point. But when we let anger remain in our lives, when we take its energy and direct it toward another person to hurt them, we move from a normal, healthy feeling to a destructive one.

Apply what Martin Luther used to say to negative thoughts: "You can't keep the birds from flying over your head. . . but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair!" We may not be able to keep anger from cropping up, but we can make a decision to keep it from staying in our lives and poisoning our attitudes.

RELATED BIBLE TEXTS: Psalm 103: 8-9, Ecclesiasties 7-9, Jonah 4:4, I John 2:9-11.

"Three Steps Forward"
Charles R. Swindoll

Anger must have safegaurds (as Paul has so clearly warned): "When you are angry, do not sin and be sure to stop being angry before the end of the day" (Ephesians 4:26). Don't prolong anger into the night. In Paul's day, the setting of the sun was the closing of the day and the beginning of the next. By the end of the day, make sure your anger problem is solved.

I believe this is to be taken very literally. We practice this in our home, perhaps you do in yours. If there have been times of disagreement or anger throughout the day, clear them up by evening. When you lay your head on your pillow, make sure those feelings of anger have been resolved. Be certain there is forgiveness, a clearing out of the consicence. Husbands and wives, don't go to sleep back-to-back. Don't allow yourself the luxury of feeling you can take care of it later on.

Every once in a while a Christian brother or sister tells me . . . , "You know, as I turned in that night, things just didn't settle right. . . I had to get up, turn the light on and make a phone call. . . or get dressed, go over to this person's house and talk with him face to face to clear it up." It's a real encouragement to hear things like that.

That's what Paul was saying. Don't let sin come in by prolonging your anger. There are probably some scars in your life that are there because you didn't solve anger when it occurred. You know, ninety-nine percent of all problems never solve themselves. Never! They just stay on like a burr in the saddle, until a sore is formed and you become diseased.

RELATED BIBLE TEXTS: Psalm 4:4-5, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Jonah 4:4, Matthew 5:22.

(I ran across these quotes at jesusoursaviour.tripod.com/Anger.htm)