“Instead, dress
yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ, and don’t plan to indulge your selfish
desires.”
Romans 13:14 (Common English Bible)
“Be angry without
sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger.”
Ephesians 4:26 (Common English Bible)
If you are
like most people, you were raised with the old maxim, “feed a cold, starve a
fever.” Writing for Scientific American.com, Mark Fischetti has traced this
maxim to a 1574 dictionary by John Withals, which noted that “fasting is a
great remedy of fever. The belief is that eating food may help the body
generate warmth during a ‘cold’ and that avoiding food may help it cool down
when overheated.”[i]
But recent medical science says that that old wisdom is wrong. It should be
“feed a cold, feed a fever.” Naturally, doctors advise meals that are balanced
and nutritious for optimal support of the body’s struggle to overcome the
illness. Apparently, what still holds true is the value of a simmering bowl of
chicken soup.
That old
maxim has been disproved by modern medicine but a portion of it – “starve a
fever” – is precisely the spiritual prescription the Apostle Paul advises for
unhealthy anger: “don’t plan to indulge your selfish desires.” Anger is one of
the most common sins when it stirs within us a passion of fury that can result
in threats and violence. The world has witnessed this anger in the increased
level of violence often done in the name of religion. Fear occupies the
thoughts of many simply because they may be found to have a different religion
or point-of-view. Broken relationships and estrangement from loved ones due to
anger also rips at the fabric of God’s good intention for all of humanity. Paul
offers counsel: let the selfishness of anger be destroyed by the withholding of
appropriate support – “don’t plan to indulge.”
There is no
method more efficient and assured of victory over the sin of anger than
destruction by neglect. As another maxim goes, “deny the fuel, you exhaust the
flame.” In practice, what Paul urges in all of his letters is that we redirect
our thoughts from those things we disagree to the one conviction that holds
each of us together, the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Dwelling on the things that
divide us results in aroused feelings. Unchecked, those feelings boil over and
scalds and destroys the more gentle places of our spirit. We can control our
passion by wisely directing our thought to our unity in Jesus and a common
striving to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Paul is
clear than anger itself isn’t sin. Anger often signals that something is wrong,
requires attention, and calls for a measured response. At the deepest level,
anger demonstrates that we are awake, aware, and care deeply about the world we
live in. “Be angry,” writes Paul to the church in Ephesus, “without sinning.”
Those last two words must not be glossed over. We are not to sin whenever anger
is present. There is no consideration given to whether the anger is justified
or not. And when we do experience anger, resolve it quickly before it arouses
those passions that lead to destruction. We have been baptized into the life of
Jesus Christ. At its most basic meaning, that means that Christ is placed first
in our lives, not our ideology, our prejudices, and our convictions. If we keep
our eyes on what our baptism means, we will make no provision for the care of
selfish desires. And, an unhealthy anger withers.
Joy
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