Rick Warren's Daily DevotionalSample

Deal With Your Anger - Now!

I believe today's verse should be taken literally. When you go to bed at night, make sure your conscious is clear and there's no disharmony.

Why? God knows how dangerous and destructive anger is to our bodies. The anger gets inside of you and starts to eat you up.

Have you ever heard anybody say, "That really burns me up!" They're speaking the truth. It literally does that. Scientists have proven that when a person gets angry there is a definite biochemical change in their body. When you get angry it attacks your adrenal glands and shoots out all kinds of things in your body. Your palms start sweating, your temperature is raised, your blood sugar increases, your heart beat elevates, you get nervous, you get primed for action.

All of this is pent up inside of you and God says, "Don't get that all built up in your life and then try to go to sleep with it. It will eat on you."

God is explaining this for your own good. When you hold on to your anger it has a damaging effect upon your health. You can't sleep. You get high blood pressure. You get depressed - you can get all kinds of different illnesses.

Anger is dangerous to our lives. It's dangerous to us physically. It's dangerous to us socially -- it ruins relationships, it destroys homes. It's dangerous to us spiritually -- it affects our relationship with God.

That's what Paul goes on to say in Ephesians 4:27, "And do not give the devil a foothold." (NIV) When you get angry, deal with it immediately, so the devil doesn't get a foothold in your life.