Be Angry and Sin Not

     Many moons ago, my father would have me recite a series of phrases before I was supposed to get angry.  "By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, By the shining Big Sea water, stood the wigwam of Nokomis."  I know now that these words are from the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem The Song of Hiawatha.  When Dad first told me that crazy sentence, I couldn't help but laugh.  After that, there were many times that those silly phrases were repeated with clenched teeth. I have been known to have a severe problem with my temper. (Of course having a older sister that took pleasure in seeing just how mad she could get me didn't help.)  Thankfully, God has worked on that with me, and explosions don't happen as often as they used to.
     Anger is not a sin.  It can't be.  Jesus got angry.  Anger can lead to sin however.  The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian Church by divine inspiration the following. "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil." (Ephesians 4:26-27)  So what makes the difference between anger and anger that leads to sin and allows the devil to have an influence over us?
     When Jesus got angry it was because people were making a mockery of the things of God.  As He said, they had turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves.  When we get angry, most of the time it is over a perceived injustice or insult directed toward us.  We then take on the attitude, how dare you do that to ME, and we seek reclaim the standing we think we deserve.  This can lead to hurting others, which, if we are Children of God, is NOT a good testimony.
     How much of the stuff we get angry about really matters?  In the eternal scope of things, personal insults and injustices, are nothing.  We need to remember "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19)  Let's not sweat the small stuff.  Let us instead live as peacemakers.  Then we will be called the Children of God.  In the midst of a volatile world, that's what we want to be!  Let your anger sink into the Shining Big Sea Water of God's Love, and be a witness for Jesus!