Sometimes I get pretty angry. I get angry that people openly defy and mock the Almighty God of all things. I get angry that our society not only tolerates (I may also get angry at that word from time to time) sin, but embraces it and tries to give it rights!! I get angry that people who should be wearing Christ at all times in their life act like they are sons of disobedience (Col. 3:5-7). I get angry when the lost are turned off by modern-day lukewarm Laodiceans. The list could probably go on and on.
Unfortunately, I also get angry at other things, things that I shouldn’t. I get angry when someone wrongs my husband. I get angry when someone wrongs me. I get angry when someone hurts me or talks bad about me or laughs at me. I basically get mad when I don’t get my way sometimes. And none of that is okay. All of that is what the apostle Paul was talking about in Ephesians 4:26-27, when he said,
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.
Notice that after the command of being angry and not sinning (which is what I do in that first paragraph up there), he admonishes us not to give place to the devil. We are giving place to the devil when we stew on things. When we let things that irritate us (because things will) keep on irritating us, instead of letting them go and realizing that God has forgiven us of so much more. That’s when we give place for the devil to come in and set up shop.
What’s interesting to me about this scenario is that it’s basically just us being stupid. You see, what person in their right mind leaves room for a roaring lion that is already seeking to devour them (1 Pet. 5:8)? Who leaves the door open and a treat to entice them?! No one! Not unless you’re asking for it.
Well, that’s anger. That’s irritation. That’s grudges. It’s leaving a nice treat dangling from the door of your heart and asking the roaring lion Satan to come on in. But then, of course, being surprised when bitterness and gossip come out of your mouth a little later. If I would only realize that that’s what anger is doing…what hurt feelings are doing…that they’re leaving a place for the devil to get in…I’d stop getting upset so easily. I’d quit feeling sorry for myself when someone hurts me. I’d shake it off when someone was rude or careless or hateful or condescending. If I only stopped and realized that that satanic lion was crouching in the bushes, I’d stop leaving the door open because it’s nice to have that chip on my shoulder because they were in the wrong.
Today, I am purposing within myself to do exactly what the apostle Paul wrote for me to do – to do what the Holy Spirit of God Himself commands me to do – to stop leaving a place for the devil. To stop inviting him in. I’m not going to let little things get to me — and anything that deals with MY hurt feelings is a little thing. The ONLY things I will let anger me are things that would anger God. Which basically means Satan will be the thing that angers me, and if that’s the case, I definitely won’t be letting him mosey on into my heart and leave his pals Bitterness and Malice behind. Join me, won’t you?
