Be Angry And Sin Not

Be angry and sin not. How do you do that? How can you be angry and sin not? I’ve always believed all anger is sin. Isn’t it? We’re taught when we’re little, don’t be mad. Control your temper! How in the world do you be angry and sin not?

I’ve been racking my brain about this whole idea. I had to talk to the insurance company of the lady that smacked into me back in November. I knew the insurance company was going to jerk me around. And they did. They were offering me a settlement that was lower than what a friend of mine got, and she and her daughter weren’t hurt. I had to call them back and haggle with them. I really didn’t want to. I want everybody to like me. I want people to think I’m nice. But I had to remember that the insurance company wasn’t my friend. They could care less about me. They are more or less snakes in the grass. I had to keep telling myself that. We weren’t friends, the insurance company and I. We were never going to be friends.

But I had to prepare myself for this. I was angry and that verse, “Be angry and sin not,” kept ringing in my head. How do you do that? I prayed about it and God sent me a reminder. First, He gave me a verse, “Be shrewd as serpents, yet innocent as doves.” (Matt. 10:16) That’s a great verse. Serpents are shrewd. The verse reminded me to fight for what I should get. I could be angry at the insurance company. I just couldn’t sin. Yet, I still believed in my heart of hearts, that all anger is sin. In my head I knew that wasn’t true, but deep in my heart, that’s what I thought.

Then God gave me more verses. He reminded me of the story of Jesus in the temple. Now Jesus never sinned. Not ever. He was the spotless lamb, to die for the sins of all people. And what did Jesus do in that temple? I think it’s a good story of being angry and sinning not.

Let’s review, shall we? In John 2:14-16, Jesus walks into the temple and sees money changers throughout. At that moment, He’s not worried about people liking Him. He makes Himself a whip and proceeds to use the whip to drive the money changers out of the temple. Picture that. How would you drive people out with a whip? Well you’ll need to use the whip. He overturned the tables of the money changers. He did what angry people do in the movies, He lifted up the tables and flipped them over. This wasn’t a peaceful, quiet scene. He also poured out the money of the money changers. Now I can imagine, the money changers were none too happy about getting their tables overturned and their money poured out on the ground. I imagine they had some choice words for Jesus. I imagine they got fairly angry about the whole ordeal. Yet, Jesus is clearly angry here too. He’s snapping a whip around, overturning tables and pouring out money on the ground. This is one angry scene. But Jesus never sinned. You can be angry and sin not! Jesus showed us.

Okay, I think I was prepared now, to call the insurance company. I rehearsed in my mind what I was going to say. I had to keep reminding myself that we weren’t friends. It doesn’t matter if I’m nice or not. Well this insurance guy was a piece of work. He told me that he didn’t want to talk about money. He told me he cared about me. (Yeah right, you don’t even know me). He kept using my name in this sickening sweet, soft tone. I wanted to gag. I don’t know how many times he told me he cared about me. He said he didn’t want to talk about money, he wanted to just talk about me. Gag, gag, gag. I told him what I wanted. He, again, said he didn’t want to talk about money. (Then what are we talking for? We’re not on a date!). I expressed what I wanted and I got angry. The more he tried to placate me, the angrier I got.

He did raise the settlement, but it still wasn’t want I wanted. I’m not sure what my next move is, but I sure learned a lot about myself. You can be angry and sin not. You don’t have to have everyone like you (especially sleazy insurance reps.). God gives us what we need, when we need it. And anger is not a sin. Just remember Jesus overturning tables in the temple and thrashing things with a whip.