Doves On Distant Oaks

To be Angry and Sin Not

Many a believer has been thrown by the admonition of Jesus when he said, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). So, let's settle once and for all what meekness means. Certainly it doesn't mean wimpy. Paul didn't spend a great deal of time speaking about the full armor of God to have us then act in a timid manner.

The actual Greek word means gentle, forbearing, or of a soothing disposition. How many times do we read where Paul says to confront one another, but in a loving manner. He brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, while all the time showing respect for non-believers through his patient manner. Yet, no one would ever call him timid.

According to Aristotle, the word represents the middle ground between getting blind with anger and not getting angry at all. It's the result of a person's choice to control their reaction in submission to the will of God. It's the ability to feel anger over something and yet sin not. It is not weakness or fear, but a strength of character stemming from trust in God.

Even Christ got angry, yet did so with great control. The incident at the Temple when he overturned the tables of the money-changers shows a remarkable degree of restraint. Does anyone doubt that He could have brought the entire temple down upon the heads of everyone there? Indeed he could have, but that was not his mission.

We, too, are permitted anger. How can we not? How is it possible to look at what's happening in the world around us—at the injustice—and not get angry? Baby's lives being terminated before they have a chance to live, people being summarily executed in horrible ways simply because they believe in Christ ... it's as if the Roman Emperor Nero has returned. The key is not to avoid anger, but to restrain it, to control it.

Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, "'In your anger do not sin': Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:26-27). He is not telling us to refrain from anger, but to refrain from allowing it to control us and drag us down into sin.

Teddy Roosevelt once said—concerning his foreign policy—"Speak softly, and carry a big stick." Our big stick is the Word of God and if we have that stick there is no need to yell and scream. All we need to do is calmly open the bible, smile and point to a passage. Let the Word speak boldly on its own.

Meekness doesn't mean to let other people cow us into never speaking of our faith—something we can see happening in the newspapers or on the news every day. We are being told basically to shut up and keep our opinions to ourselves. What we need to be is strong in our faith and simply point the way to Christ.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

– James 1:19-20