Is it a sin to be angry?

Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. (Ephesians 4:26-27)

Have you ever wondered if it was a sin to be 'angry' with others or situations in your life? There is no victory in being offended, but I know we all have those moments when we get ticked off and let our anger have the rule of our lives. As a matter of fact, there is almost always a loss with each anger episode. It is inevitable that we will be offended by someone at some time - we make a choice to respond by becoming angry, nurturing the offense, and giving Satan a foothold in our lives. A foothold is a 'place' or a 'room' - so you give Satan a place in your life where he has more than a bit of room to work within us.

We don't want to give anger a foothold - it destroys relationships and brings division that is sometimes irreparable. Living in anger, harboring bitterness, and allowing it to continue to fester a bit more than we should actually creates walls of defense that keeps others away from us. It destroys relationship potential. The greatest thing the enemy of our soul wants right now is division - because where division exists emotions can be escalated, words can be spoken that bring hurts that run deep. Division brings detachment - we need to guard against standing alone because our greatest strength is in standing together (unity).

Anger weakens us beyond recovery sometimes - bitter roots taking a significant toll on lives all around us. Scripture reminds us to not let the sun go down while we are still angry - why? Roots only have a chance to grow when they are left planted! It takes a great deal of work to bring reconciliation before the sun goes down, but if we take the steps to own our offenses on the very day we commit them and seek forgiveness, wouldn't our relationships be so much stronger? We may want to ignore the offense we have encountered, or the one we have created, but there is no wisdom in allowing the root to grow! Just sayin!