What does the Bible say about anger?
Are you currently struggling with anger and forgiveness? Is there a bitterness in your heart that is holding you back from the abundant life that Christ had planned for you? Anger is a destructive sin that destroys us from within. If not treated immediately it can turn into something catastrophic.
As believers, we have to get alone with God and cry out for help when we start seeing signs of impatience when dealing with others. You have two options. You can either allow angry emotions to change you or you can change your outlook on every situation.
When God is at the center of your heart you will see a change in your attitude towards others. Worship changes the heart and the mind. We must stop looking to ourselves for help and start looking to Christ.
Christian quotes about anger
“Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry.” – Henry Ward Beecher
“Beware of him that is slow to anger; for when it is long coming, it is the stronger when it comes, and the longer kept. Abused patience turns to fury.” – Francis Quarles
“Do not say, “I cannot help having a bad temper.” Friend, you must help it. Pray to God to help you overcome it at once, for either you must kill it, or it will kill you. You cannot carry a bad temper into heaven.” – Charles Spurgeon
“A quick anger will make a fool of you soon enough.”
“Anger doesn’t solve anything It builds nothing, but it can destroy everything.”
Is anger a sin according to the Bible?
Most of the time anger is a sin, but not all the time. Righteous anger or biblical anger is not sinful. When we are angry about the sin going on in the world or angry at the way others are being treated, that is an example of biblical anger.
Biblical anger is concerned about others and it usually results in a solution to problems. Anger is sinful when it comes from an impatient, prideful, unforgiving, untrusting, and wicked heart.
1. Psalm 7:11 “God is an honest judge. He is angry with the wicked every day.”
Take every angry thought captive
Once temptation comes you have to immediately start fighting it or it’s going to take over you. It’s like playing near fire while you are drenched in gasoline. If you don’t go in the opposite direction the fire will consume you. Once those thoughts enter your mind, fight before it turns into murder.
Don’t play around with those thoughts! Just like God warned Cain He warns us. “Sin is crouching at your door.” After God warns you, the next thing that you do is crucial to your spiritual soul.
2. Genesis 4:7 “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
3. Romans 6:12 “Therefore do not let sin control your mortal body so that you obey its desires.”
4. Job 11:14 “If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, And do not let wickedness dwell in your tents.”
5. 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
Take out all the cancer
There are times when we slightly overcome the anger, but there is a small piece of cancer left. We say that we are over something, but there is a small piece of cancer that we haven’t continued to wrestle with. Overtime that small piece of cancer will grow unless it is completely removed. Sometimes we overcome anger and think the war is over.
You may have won the battle, but the war may not be over. That anger might seek to come back. Is there an anger or a grudge that you have been living with for years? You need God to remove the anger before it erupts. Never let anger sit. What do I mean by this? Never let sin remain unchecked because it will lead to consequences. We must confess and ask for a cleansing. Unchecked anger can lead to angry outbursts or malicious thoughts at the drop of a hat. One small offense a few weeks down the line can trigger your previous anger. We see this in marriages all the time.
A husband makes his wife mad and although she is angry she doesn’t bring the offense up. The problem is that the sin is still lodged in her heart. Now let’s say the husband does something small that his wife doesn’t like. Because the anger went unchecked from the last situation she lashes out at her husband. She is not lashing out because of the insignificant offense, she is lashing out because she hasn’t forgiven and cleansed her heart of the past.
6. Ephesians 4:31 “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.”
7. Galatians 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
8. James 1:14-15 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
The consequences of anger
We all wish that this world had time machines, but unfortunately we don’t. There are irreversible consequences to your actions. Anger is such an egregious sin that not only does it hurt us it hurts others. Anger causes other people to get angry.
Kids imitate parents and siblings with anger management problems. Anger ruins relationships. Anger leads to health problems. Anger hurts our fellowship with the Lord. Anger leads to addiction. We must deal with it before it turns into a destructive pattern.
Anger leads to falling into greater sin. Anger kills the heart from within and once that happens you become apathetic to everything and you begin to dabble in other ungodly activities.
9. Job 5:2 “For anger kills a fool, and jealousy slays the gullible.”
10. Proverbs 14:17 “A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.”
11. Proverbs 19:19 “A man of great anger will bear the penalty, For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again.”
Anger management: What are you feeding your mind?
There is no denying that the music that we listen to and the things that we watch have a profound impact on our lives. Scripture teaches us that “bad company ruins good morals.”
Who and what you surround yourself with can trigger bad habits such as anger. When you surround yourself with positivity you become more positive. If you are listening to hardcore gangster type of music don’t be surprised when anger increases.
If you’re watching certain videos on YouTube or certain TV shows don’t be surprised when your heart changes. Guard your heart. We need to learn how to discipline ourselves and protect our heart from the wicked things of this world.
12. Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”
13. Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”
14. Romans 8:6 “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”
15. Proverbs 22:24-25 “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.”
Anger should not be our first response. Let’s increase forgiveness
Scripture makes it clear that we should overlook an offense which reveals wisdom. Multiplying words and responding in an angry tone always makes things worse. We have to respond to conflict with wisdom. The wise fear the Lord and do not want to dishonor Him by their actions. The wise think before they speak. The wise know the consequences of sin.
The wise are patient in their dealings with others. The wise look to the Lord because they know in Him they will find help in their time of need. Scripture teaches us to control our anger and although in our own strength we are vulnerable, when we rely on the strength of Christ we have all that we need.
As we grow as Christians we should become more disciplined in our response. Every day we should be praying for a greater manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s power in our lives.
16. Proverbs 14:16-17 “The wise fear the Lord and shun evil, but a fool is hotheaded and yet feels secure. A quick-tempered person does foolish things, and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.”
17. Proverbs 19:11 “A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”
18. Galatians 5:22–23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
19. Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”
20. Proverbs 15:18 “A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.”
We should imitate the Lord and pray for patience
The Lord is slow to anger and we should follow His lead. Why is God slow to anger? God is slow to anger because of His great love. Our love for others should motivate us to control our anger. Our love for the Lord and others should help us to forgive.
Love should be our response to conflict. We must remember that the Lord has forgiven us for much. Who are we that we can’t forgive others for smaller matters? Who are we that we can’t learn to solve our problems without engaging in a shouting match?
21. Nahum 1:3 “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”
22. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered.”
23. Exodus 34:6-7 “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”
We must be willing to express ourselves.
If I can be honest for a second, in my life the only time I truly get angry is when I don’t express myself. If someone keeps on offending me and I don’t gently sit down and talk to them that can easily lead to bad thoughts. We can’t be afraid to tell others how we feel. Sometimes we have to speak up and sometimes we have to be willing to talk to others such as counselors. This does not only go for our relationship with people.
Sometimes we have to express ourselves to God about the trials that we are going through. When we don’t express ourselves that allows Satan an opportunity to plant seeds of doubt and anger. It is better to admit to God it is hard to fully trust Him in a situation than to hold it in. We have to pour out our heart to Him and God is faithful to listen and work through our doubt.
24. Ecclesiastes 3:7 “A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.”
Anger is a heart problem
One of the worst things we can do is make an excuse for our anger. Even if we have good reason to be angry we must never make excuses. Sometimes just because it is acceptable to be angry doesn’t mean we should. We should never say, “that’s just how I am.” No!
We must fix the problem before it becomes an even greater problem. We must repent before we backslide. We must pray for a cleansing of our heart before evil starts pouring out of our mouths. Sin is sin no matter how we try to look at it and when the heart is not set on God we are susceptible to sin.
When our heart is truly set on the Lord there is nothing holding us back from Him. Our heart needs to change course back to God. We must be filled with the Spirit and not the world. What comes out of your mouth and the things you think about most are good indications about the condition of your heart.
25. Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”
