Rick Warren's Daily DevotionalSample

Resolve to Manage Your Anger

The Bible says, "Love is not easily angered." It doesn't say love never gets angry at all. In fact, sometimes the loving thing to do is to get angry. Jesus became angry in the Temple when he saw his Father's house being run like a marketplace.

At the same time, we can love someone and still get angry at that person. Sometimes the anger may be "righteous' and sometimes it may be "selfish,' but the people we love the most are the ones most likely to make us angry.

My point is -- God placed the capacity to get angry into your biological makeup. Being angry is not a sin; it can become a sin if we allow it to push us into destructive behavior, but the emotion itself is not a sin. The Bible says even God gets angry.

You can't avoid anger, but you can learn how to control it. You can resolve to manage it, so it becomes an asset, rather than a liability. This means you quit making excuses and justifying your anger: "That's just me. I just blow up. I can't control it.'

Anger can be controlled. Have you ever been in a fight with someone and things are getting pretty loud, but, then, the telephone rings? Notice how quickly you can manage your anger! You've got a lot more control over your anger than you think you do. Resolve to manage it, and, then, confess, "I can control it with God's help."