Communication – 2
Monday, February 9, 2009
Agreeable Disagreements
(Ephesians 4:26-32)
Living with another person isn’t always easy. In fact, day-to-day proximity coupled with the blending of two lives always presents wonderful challenges! By “challenges,” I mean disagreements. You may be surprised to know that even anger is O.K. if confined to Biblical guidelines. Ephesians 4 gives us the Biblical limitations of anger.
First, anger is acceptable. To some that sounds surprising, yet the Bible teaches that we can be “angry” as long as we “sin not” (26). Acceptable anger is passion under complete control. It feels the burn without the explosion. It never raises its voice, and never acts out in violent or destructive ways. Biblical anger does not cause fear in the other party.
Secondly, anger is limited. God makes allowance for anger, but He places a time limit upon it. We are not to maintain our anger past the setting of the sun, and there is no provision for carrying anger into the next day. When the sun goes down, so must your anger.
Thirdly, anger is restrained. Satan knows how to use a variety of human emotions against us. We must never allow emotional excesses to become the Devil’s playground in our lives (27). If left unchecked, any emotion—especially anger—can open the door for Satan’s influence. How to disagree agreeably? “Be ye angry and sin not.”
