Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27, ESV)
Have you ever rejoiced during a round of golf? Perhaps when you made a hole-in-one, or a long putt, or hit a particularly amazing shot, you rejoiced a little.
On the other side of that emotional coin, have you ever been angry on a golf course? Maybe that particularly amazing shot hit the flagstick and bounced into a hazard. Perhaps someone distracted you in the middle of your swing.
If you have both rejoiced and been angry on a golf course, you probably care about the game. You are involved, and it shows. That can be a good thing, but of course it can turn against you.
The admonition from Paul, who was quoting David (Psalm 4:4), coupled with his own guidance, offered four things that can help our games and our lives.
First, anger itself is not a sin. Second, anger can easily lead to sin.
Maybe I’m angry about one of my fellow humans killing another one of my fellow humans because I saw it happen on the news.So I hit a great drive and a tree jumps out in front of my golf ball, grabs it with a branch, and keeps it. No doubt it holds a treasure trove of stolen balls, and I am angry at the tree. Because I can’t climb it, I hit it with my club, as if I could shake my ball loose, venting my anger for the world to see and the tree to feel.
Or perhaps I’m on the road to the course, and it isn’t my ball that is stolen but my time, because another driver has cut me off. I am angry, and I can’t make the incident unhappen, so I voice my anger with a gesture or a scream or by running into his car. That’ll show him!
Maybe I’m angry about one of my fellow humans killing another one of my fellow humans because I saw it happen on the news. Even though I don’t know either of them, my anger is hot and begging for expression. In every one of those places—the golf course, the road, or the news—the anger is real.
That leads us to the third and fourth things we learn from Paul: We can and should bring our anger under control, and if we don’t we are giving the devil an opportunity to use us for his purposes.
God gets angry. Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5). Moses, Samuel, and David all got angry. Anger is sometimes appropriate. Just don’t let your anger cause you to sin. Get it under control quickly. That will keep the devil away, and it will lower both your blood pressure and your scores.
It might even save a tree.
—
Lewis Greer
June 10, 2020
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