The Real Enemy!

Wednesday evening, August 13, 2008 [a mere 76 degrees following a wonderful rain!]
Please read this verse carefully and prayerfully: This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God (James 1:19-21).
Thankfully, this verse does not exclude our being angry; instead it warns us to be slow about becoming angry. However, even with this concession, from what I have been able to observe, anger management is no small accomplishment. Most of the Christians, who are alive today, have ignored the “go slow” warning sign of long ago and, consequently, anger has become the “normal” way of the Christian life. In order for someone to think he/she needs a course in anger management, things have to get bad—really bad! As you know, most of us do quite well at expressing anger; albeit, some tend to be more covert than others—passive aggression (sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside), as opposed to active aggression (standing up on the outside and the inside). Even so, those we target become victims of our abusive behavior and, strangely, they are most often those we love most.
Let me hasten to remind you that anger, in and of itself, is not evil or sinful, as is evidenced by the fact that Jesus Himself acted angrily: And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mark 3:4-5; emphasis, mine). Of course, we all know about the anger He exhibited with the moneychangers in the Temple (see Matthew 21:12-13). Furthermore, God exhibited anger on many occasions (see Hebrews 3:10, for example).
Paul emphasized this with these words: Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity (Ephesians 4:26-27). In other words, it is completely within the parameters of righteousness for us to exhibit anger; however, we must do so without sinning because we do not want to give the devil an opportunity to deceive us. Obviously, one of the keys to success lies within how quickly we forgive (release our anger) those with whom we are angry. As each of us knows, stored anger is NOT a good thing because it breeds the unquenchable desire to “get even” with the “enemy” who hurt us, and, unfortunately, that desire manifests itself in very hurtful and damaging ways, especially in light of the fact that we most often target our anger at those we love most, rather than the one(s) who hurt us.
Having said that, let me remind you of this: in the heat of the battle, most of us completely forget that our real enemy is Satan, not the one who hurt us; consequently, we seldom ever know what it really means to be “more than conquerors” when it comes to anger management. Thankfully, Paul has given us the truth and the key to overcoming sinful anger: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). May we never forget it!
Have a peaceful night!
Mac