January 05 2026

Monday January 05

“Be Angry, And Do Not Sin”

Ephesians 4:22-27

22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. 26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil.

Today we’re going back to Ephesians chapter 4, looking at the section toward the end of the chapter where the Apostle Paul instructs us to put off the old man and put on the new man. He tells us that we can be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and then clothe ourselves in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Christ’s life is now in us. We no longer live for ourselves, but Christ lives in us. He produces the fruit of the Spirit within us, and as a result, we experience love, joy, and peace instead of anger, malice, and bitterness. That’s what Paul addresses at the end of this chapter.

Paul gives us five sins that we are to put off. Back in verse 25, the first sin he mentions is lying. At the root of all lies is the devil himself—he is the father of lies (John 8:44). He plants the thought in our minds to deceive others so that we might look better in their eyes. Paul’s instruction is clear: put off lying and speak the truth, each one with his neighbor.

Then in verse 26, Paul addresses the second issue: “Be angry, and do not sin.” Now that’s interesting. He doesn’t say, “Put off anger,” the way he says, “Put off lying.” Instead, he says, “Be angry, and do not sin.” At first, that sounds like a strange encouragement—especially since so many people already struggle with anger. But God has created us as emotional beings. God Himself is an emotional God. He has feelings, and He created us with feelings so that we can experience love, joy, peace, contentment, satisfaction, and security. These are good emotions.

However, there are other emotions—like anger, fear, worry, malice, and hatred—that are not good emotions. Yet God allows us to experience them. Why? Because they act like a warning bell, an alarm that tells us something isn’t right. They alert us that we may be viewing a situation incorrectly or that something needs to be addressed.

So is it possible to be angry and not sin? Yes, it is. In itself, anger is not a sin. Scripture tells us that God gets angry. We see this in Deuteronomy 9:8 and 20, Psalm 2:12. Several times in the Old Testament the phrase appears, “the anger of the Lord” (Numbers 25:4, and Jeremiah 4:8 and 12:13). The holy anger of God is part of His righteous judgment against sin. We also see this illustrated in the life of Jesus when He was angry in the temple, driving out those who were greedily selling merchandise and exploiting God’s people who had come to worship and offer sacrifices.

We must make the choice about what we will do with the anger we feel. Anger is often compared in Scripture to fire—it is said to “being kindled” (Genesis 30:2; Deuteronomy 6:15). It can flare up when someone says something that wounds us or when something displeases us deeply. At that moment, we have a choice. Will we allow that anger to smolder within us and turn into malice—an intent to hurt or seek vengeance—or will we allow God to transform it into something good?

Anger is a burst of emotional energy. We can used that energy to attack a person or property, or we can use it to attack the problem. That energy can be used to harm and damage others, or it can be used to drive us to God. We can pray, “Lord, help me understand what You are teaching me through this anger. Help me see this situation through Your eyes.” We don’t see the way God sees. God judges perfectly and deals justly with every situation. We don’t. And that’s why anger can easily lead us into sin if we’re not careful.

Paul then gives us practical wisdom: “do not let the sun go down on your wrath”. While we’re feeling that anger, we are to go to God. We are to go to bed harboring and feeding that feeling of anger. Instead we ask God to forgive us for our sins, and then we ask Him to help us forgive those who have hurt us. Otherwise, anger will grow into bitterness. Paul warns us about this later in verse 31, where he says: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.”

May the Lord help us listen carefully to this instruction from Paul—not allowing anger to control our lives or lead us into sin, but instead, let it drive us to God for the grace we need to respond rightly.

God bless you as you think on these things today and may you have a wonderful, wonderful day.