Are you surrounded by a culture of anger and hate? Do you find yourself being influenced by it, or even find yourself participating in it?

Christians are exhorted "In your anger do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26). This implies that not all anger is sinful. Anger is an emotion which properly expressed is a healthy part of being a complete person psychologically. The key is "do not sin" when you become angry.

Fear is often the real source of our anger which we turn against those we blame for making us insecure. This fear does lead to sin.

When we look to God for the standard of right and wrong, we see that God expresses anger and Jesus expressed anger, but in that expression they did not do wrong. God's anger is reserved for those who abuse, take advantage of, and oppress others. His anger is also directed to those Jesus called, "hypocrites" (Luke 13:10-16). These are people who make a show of religious piety while solely interested in feeding their own greed and desire for power to get what they want.

Those who follow Christ are supposed to be different from the culture around us. What does Scripture instruct us about dealing with our anger?

• Don't stay angry; deal with it immediately before the sun goes down (Ephesians 4:26-27).
• Love is not "easily angered" (1 Corinthians 13:5 KJV).
• Be slow to become angry since man's anger doesn't produce God's righteousness (James 1:19-20).
• Be quick to listen and slow to speak (James 1:19).
• Trust God for justice (Romans 12:17-19).
• Instead of retaliation, do good (Romans 12:20-21; Matthew 5:43-48).
• Pray for your enemies (Matthew 5:44).
• Live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-26).
• Rely on the faithful love of God (Romans 8:31-39; 1 John 4:15-18).

When we trust God for our protection and provision, we do not have to allow fear to cause us to sin in our anger. We can have peace of mind and heart in a chaotic world.