“Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:25-27)
Paul exhorts us to live lives worthy of God’s Kingdom. We are called to be holy, to be separated from sin and live lives of purity and righteousness. We are not to live according to the ways of the world. We have been made one with Christ and so He expects us to imitate Him and enables us to do so. Paul then goes on to show the ways we do this using very concrete and balanced examples that point out the negative actions and attitudes, what we must not do or think, and the positive ones, what we should do and think. And the model for us to follow is Jesus Himself.
As we ponder these standards, we ought to consider Paul’s admonition about anger. What he says is totally contrary to the behaviors endorsed by our politically divisive culture. Inflamed by the propaganda and opinion of the media, self-promoting politicians, celebrities and taking heads, many Americans seemed to be enraged, overwhelmed with anger to the point of violence, slander, disrespect, and abuse.
Not so says Paul! While it is okay to be angry about injustice, immorality, and the lies that Satan uses to enslave people to sin it is not okay to let that anger lead us to sin. Rather than angry rhetoric, demonstrations, marches, and inflammatory rhetoric, we Christians are called to promote truth and love And the truth we are to proclaim is the gospel which tells us that we all are sinners. The truth is that Christ loves us as we are. The truth is that He exposes our sin and enables us to fight and overcome it, to change our way of thinking and living to glorify Him. The truth is we need to treat all others with the same love and kindness that Jesus shows us all, to forgive rather than hate. The Lord would rather we should be focused on Him and His Kingdom by living by His standards, not the world’s. So let us trust in Him by faith so He can enable us to use Godly wisdom to discern the truth from the lies.