ISSUE EIGHT
Be Angry and Sin Not
by Keith Huff
"But now ye also put of all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with His deeds; And have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him." Colossians 3:8-10
Before we can put on Christ, we must put off the old man. The very first thing we need to put off is anger. The word anger means "agitation of the soul." When we become angry, it usually shows itself in a desire to hit out at something or someone else.
"And Adam knew his wife; and she conceived and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is the countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over them. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." Genesis 4:1-8
Cain was very wroth (angry), and his countenance fell. Our faces will always show our anger. In verse 7, the Lord spoke to Cain and said, "Do well!" But Cain kept the anger inside, and it caused him to kill his brother.
"Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools." Ecclesiastes 7:9
When we allow anger to stay in our hearts, we will do foolish things that we may regret for a long time. We end up hurting those that are near to us, those that we love. Because of our anger, we too like Cain often slay our brothers and sisters. The old saying is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". This is not a true saying. When we say things in anger, they do hurt. Words spoken in anger can hurt someone for a long time.
"Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down upon thy wrath:" Ephesians 4:26
Deal with your anger before you sin with your mouth and your heart. In the Webster's Dictionary one of the meanings for anger is "madness." Anger can cause us to lose all self-control of our thoughts and actions.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." James 1:19-20
Many times we are swift to speak and slow to hear and quick to wrath. Listen to God. Listen to your spiritual man before you speak. Don't let the old man nature do your speaking.
"He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." Proverbs 16:32
"If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." Genesis 4:7
When we are angry, God is still speaking to the Cain nature. To Be Continued
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