1340) If you were raised in the church as I was, you may have sensed that anger and conflict are not Christ-like. After all, Jesus cleansed the temple with “righteous anger” (Matthew 21:12-17). This implied to my young ears that if you do not have righteous anger, assuming you truly know what this means, anger, is sinful.

If you look closely at Scripture, you find anger and conflict don’t equate sin. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26 to “be angry and sin not.” Can you be angry with someone or something and not sin? Yes, I believe you can.

Not too long ago, our local paper printed something so outrageous, I had to write in and respond. The anger I felt propelled me toward something productive.

Luke 6:28 tells us our anger and even mistreatment of others should spur us toward praying for them. Another good use of a so-called unholy emotion.

The problem with anger and closely related emotions is they often have such power and force that we react rather than methodically act. It is always a good thing to place a bit of time between the surge of our feelings and our chosen reactions. Hard to do, but more productive.