Where Christian Anger Is Needed - Ephesians 4:26-27

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. - Ephesians 4:26-27

    Anger has become an issue in this day and age simply because there are so many social objections to becoming irate with anyone for any reason thanks to our overly politically correct climate. And many of anger’s greatest opponents, many of them secular progressives, will quote Scriptural verses to back their “holier than thou position.” Psalm 37:8. Proverbs 22:24, Ephesians 4:31, and James 1:20, to name but a few, declare in no uncertain terms the prohibition against anger. But what these cenobites of passivity and tolerance have failed to grasp is that, as in our title verse, we are commanded by God to be angry at times.
    Of course, we’re not to harbor anger in our hearts and that is what the command to “not let the sun go down on your (our) anger” is all about. But to feel righteous indignation or anger is far from prohibited; it is called for.
    An honest assessment of how many times the anger of God is referred to in the Bible will reveal that anger is mentioned more times than God’s love! And what makes God angry is always the same transgression - sin. God is angry with sin.
    English theologian John Stott had this to say about righteous anger -
    “I go further and say that there is a great need in the contemporary world for more Christian anger. We human beings compromise with sin in a way which God never does. In the face of blatant evil we should be indignant not tolerant, angry not apathetic. If God hates sin, his people should hate it too. If evil arouses his anger, it should arouse ours also ‘Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake thy law.’- Psalm 119:53 What other reaction can wickedness be expected to provoke in those who love God?”
    We have a duty as Christians to be angry with evil and sin around us. And while we may not simply go about chastising and physically restraining others from sinning there is still one place we not only have a duty to not tolerate sin but a responsibility to prevent it: in our homes. And the clearest area of control must be upon our children.
    We are cautioned by Scripture regarding the discipline of our children - “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” - Ephesians 6:4. The teaching here is clear: we must not spend our time needlessly harassing our children to the point of driving them crazy, but we are told to discipline them and instruct them in the Lord. And this admonition speaks to the evil in our children’s lives. We are not to tolerate sin in their lives no matter under what guise it raises its diabolic head. Whether it be some new social sickness being promoted by the popular culture or just worldly unlawfulness and disrespectful rebellion. We are to shut it down without exception. Under no circumstances may we tolerate sin in the lives of our children. Even if it presents itself as madness we must not make excuse for it.
    Scripture tells us - “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” - Proverbs 22:6.” We train our children because as parents it is our duty to train them. There are only two ways to train a child. One is to train them with moral and ethical thoughts, words, and deeds. The other way is to simply allow them to go their own way. Even a simpleton knows the first way is the right way while the second way leads to perdition. And even though they may complain and object, we must fulfill our responsibility as parents despite their protests. Time will prove us to be right. “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” - Hebrews 12:11.