Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
(James 1:19-20 ESV)
The church I pastor is working through the seven deadly sins with an eye on contending with our sin and not playing the "I'm only human" card and tolerating our sin. While it is true that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), that does not mean that God wants us to wallow in our sins our whole lives without victory over them.
So what is wrath, why is it deadly to our soul and what can we do about it?
Wrath can be defined as a strong, vengeful anger, or indignation. Anger itself is an emotion and a human reaction to being wronged or hurt. It is not wrong or immoral to feel anger. What one does with anger has morality. Wrath is anger on steroids. Think out-of-control anger. Think kick-the-dog anger or yell-at-the-kids anger.
Road rage is a real thing. When someone pulls out in front of me and goes ten under the speed limit I get irritated. That is not the same thing as aggressively tailgating them or worse yet, passing them and cutting them off and flipping them the bird. Reframing my thinking from "what a jerk!" to "they might be an older person who is doing the best they can" and even praying for them to have a great day can diffuse my anger and bring more patience to my driving.
Biblically speaking, wrath is sometimes justified and even holy. Jesus demonstrated righteous indignation (wrath) when He took a whip, overturned the tables of the money changers in the Temple and declared, “Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.'” (Mark 11:17) The money changers were cheating the poor in exchanging common currency for Temple currency for use in giving offerings, and in selling the animals to be used for sacrifices at airport-like prices.
Truth is that Jesus' anger was reserved for injustice done to others. But 90% of my anger is in response to something done to me. As such, it is a symptom of a broken, unhealed heart that needs to be saturated in the holy love of God instead of nursing anger over things I consider as personal insults or inconveniences. And anger nursed in our hearts instead of being released into a sea of forgiveness can become a root of bitterness that poisons our lives. "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled." (Hebrews 12:15)
Through James, Jesus calls us to a better way than unbridled anger. "...let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger..." Quick to listen. Slow to speak. Slow to get angry. This is the life of peace that God can bring us to by the working of His Holy Spirit of love in our hearts. You know the old cliche: You have two ears and one mouth, so listen twice as much as you spout off. And when we do speak, we are cautioned to "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15) and not clobber people with it.
James next says, "...the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." Instead, words and actions done in anger produce all kinds of wounding and pain in others. Hurting people hurt people. Many of us carry around with us the scars and wounds of words spoken in out-of-control rage by abusive parents or unthinking sarcasm (which is buried anger) by a teacher or coach. Truth is: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me" is a lie. James says the opposite a few verses later:
If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. (James 1:26 ESV)
What can we do about our anger? Well it's more than just stuffing it or controlling it. It's more than a flat-emotions stoicism that refuses to feel any strong emotions. I am convinced the way God longs to deal with sin and its effects in our lives is to replace sin with virtue. And the virtue that crowds out anger is patience.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.
(1 Corinthians 13:4 ESV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 ESV)
Wrath is a heart issue. It requires the ministry of the Holy Spirit to transform my wounded, angry heart into a loving, patient one by His infusion of Holy Love. It also requires a re-orientation of my heart from offense at what is done to me to caring for others. The refining, sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is always moving us toward Christlikeness, and that work, in the area of wrath/anger in my heart is to move me toward love that expresses itself in patience.
Come, Holy Spirit. Do your sanctifying work in my heart. Root out rage and replace it with patient love. In the strong name of Jesus...
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