“He who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city.” Proverbs 16:32

“Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” Proverbs 14:29

We all feel anger sometimes. It’s not necessarily a sin – in fact, as Christians, we should be angry at evil. The question before us is the same as always and it has to do with our motive. Are we faithful or not? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom because it keeps God at the forefront of our thinking. When, instead, we lose our focus on God and what He’s done for us in Christ, we begin to act not in faith, in honor of the Lord, but in fear. Fear will lead to unjust anger because we’ll be looking at the world and our circumstances all wrong.

Let me explain. When the Bible says that perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18) it means that love centered in Christ, and the love He has for us, will lead us to the security that comes from seeing the world properly. We see the world properly when we understand that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things – that’s true wisdom. So, if you’re prone to fits of anger over “little things”, over inconvenience, and so forth, the answer is the sovereignty and goodness of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. The answer isn’t in stoicism or some kind of self-help or thinking positive thoughts. That’s all delusional really. The answer to anger is faith in Jesus Christ.

There are two primary ways that this works out for the believer.

First, let’s look at the anger that stems from frustration. This type of anger comes from our hearts when we aren’t trusting in God’s direction of our lives. Many of us are frustrated by life’s details. Maybe our job is hard and/or we have a work environment that’s vexing. Sometimes we think we’re simply better than the job we’re doing. Or we’re unhappy with the place we find ourselves in life. All of these things are normal emotions and will, in one way or another, at some time or another, confront us. The answer is, as always, in knowing the God of Scripture and, therefore, having a realistic understanding of the world around us and our life in this present evil age.

On this point, we do well to remember that Paul said that whatever we do, we should do it as unto the Lord, not for men (Colossians 3:17). This is spoken, of course, in the context of the rest of the chapter that precedes it. Paul says, “set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (3:2-3). To this end we’re told to put to death (v. 5) and put away (v. 8) earthly passions like covetousness, anger, wrath and malice. We see here that anger is linked to “evil desire” and covetousness, which is to say it’s linked to wanting the things of the world God created but not God. That’s the default condition of the flesh. It wants the blessings of God without the obedience of faith.

Instead of these things we’re told to “put on then” (v. 12) compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. This shows us that we aren’t saved from the world, but from our sin. The renewed mind of the Christian must challenge the “mind that’s set on the flesh” and its desire to dictate the circumstances of life instead of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it: why would we be told to put on patience unless we were sure to face things in life that would, outside of faith in Christ, cause us to lose patience? Why would we be told to put on the moral virtues of Christ in faith unless our true and real problem was sin, not our circumstances?

This is tough to hear, of course. We’d much prefer to hear that we’re not going to have any trouble wherever we go and that once we’re saved our lives will be full of success. Well, the problem with this mindset is that it’s fuzzy on the math, so to speak. We conflate material success and ease with faith; we see our finances as our sanctification barometer. This leads us to regard all forms of earthly trials as evidence that either we aren’t being faithful or that God has let us down. But this is a faulty equation and contrary to Scripture.

Our primary goal in life is faithfulness, not material success and comfort. Often, the blessings of godliness will result in earthly successes, yes. But not always. Sometimes the market crashes. Sometimes the factory closes. Sometimes your team simply loses. In all these things, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. And, of course, sometimes He uses earthly difficulties to discipline us. That’s certainly true. Wisdom seeks to learn how to be faithful through it all, though. Wisdom knows that God will discipline the sons and daughters He loves, but never reject them.

The renewal of our minds means that we no longer see this world and its priorities as all-important. What is all-important is Jesus Christ and our relationship with Him, which is and must be, faith. Knowing that He is sovereign and good keeps us from the worry and frustrations that lead to sinful anger as a dominant theme in our lives. The mistake is in accepting Jesus as Savior but not Lord or Lord but not loving Savior. He didn’t save us out of some broad sense of duty, impersonal and loveless – as if it was simply His job. No. He died for us while we were yet sinners because He loves us truly and fully and this means He will not ever, ever reject us. Nor is He our heavenly grandma, full of love but not the righteous Lord of creation. He’s both loving and sovereign.

The second thing is when we’re saved and anger brews in our hearts toward sin and injustice. This is actually a good thing because it shows that we’re growing enough to hate the things that God hates. The trouble is when we’re so angry with sin and lies and evil that we lose our peace and react in unedifying ways. Miroslav Volf said, “The certainty of God’s just judgment at the end of history is the presupposition for the renunciation of violence in the middle of it.” In short, the answer to this type of anger is God’s promised wrath at the end of the age. His judgment will be perfect and the Christian is right when he prays “thy Kingdom come…”. The cross shows that all sin will be judged. God is not mocked and His delay in punishing the vile deeds that beset us and our world is meant as a mercy, so that all might repent.

So, we discover that anger problems are really faith problems – that is, they’re theological. Tell me what a man or woman thinks about God – is it God with a big G or a little g? – and I’ll tell you quite a bit about their attitude.

The fear of the Lord – the reverent awe of Him that trusts fully in His mercy, goodness and sovereignty, and that seriously contemplates the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge – is perfect. It, like the law of the Lord, revives the soul that’s otherwise prone to anger. The trouble is for us that we don’t fear God, but man…and life. “Good sense makes one slow to anger…” (Proverbs 19:11) because it knows that all things work together for good in Christ. “A man of wrath stirs of strife and one given to anger causes much transgression” (Proverbs 29:22) because the man of wrath wants God’s job – wants control of life and destiny. To try and live as God, to try and be sovereign in every detail, actually makes one less secure rather than more. You’d think that the egoist would be unconcerned with what others do and think but it’s quite the opposite. They’re obsessed by the thoughts and deeds of others because they can’t control them and that’s what they’re trying desperately to do – take control.

The anger that stirs up strife has to do with opinions. It’s the strife that results from arguments that are pointless because, basically, they’re none of our business. The Christian should ask themselves before they jump in the fray, “does this issue concern the gospel in any way?” And, “what’s my authority on this issue?” Christian humility and meekness is grounded in love of Christ and will keep us from angry strife – of trying to control everything.

So, the answer to anger born out of frustration with our circumstances is faith in the sovereignty and goodness of God. The God that loved you so much as to endure death on the cross for you will certainly not forsake you in this world. And the frustration from being overlooked by the world, of being insignificant, put down, cast aside, and insulted, is dealt with there too. Christ died for you. You are not forgotten! You will be raised on that day to the glory of the sons of God through faith. Dogs licked that beggar, Lazarus, and while he lived he was so very low and forgotten by men. Upon his death, though, God’s very angels whisked him away to paradise, gave him a celestial escort to the very presence of the most high God.

The anger that rises in our hearts against the seemingly limitless evil of our times finds God’s wrath as its answer. Justice is coming and it’s okay to petition God for His kingdom to come so long as we remember that we too need grace and don’t deserve heaven. Man’s anger can be righteous but rarely is because of sin. The discipline for us is to remember the gospel. This world in all its evil, needs the gospel. Don’t repay evil for evil, repay evil with good…that is, the gospel of Jesus Christ.