Dealing with anger

Ephesians 4:26-27 says "In you anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."

There are times when I fail miserably to obey this verse. Sometimes events or people can frustrate us so much that we either react wrongly or hold it against the person. I'm sure all of us have had times when letting go of something someone has done or said to you has been very difficult. The image of a giving the devil a foothold here is the part of this passage that really gets to me. Its not as if all of a sudden you sinned in your anger and then it goes away. If we allow the devil to get a foothold in our lives it can become a much bigger issue. Anger is one of those things that people can hold onto forever. It has ruined families and friendships. it is not as if anger itself is bad. Jesus got angry. There are times when I believe anger can be the correct response to something. This issue becomes sin when the anger at a situation or condition stops being the focus and your anger is towards a person. When Jesus angrily cleared the merchants from the temple he was really ticked off. The were making a store out of God's house. Yet he didn't stop loving those people, even though he hated what they were doing. A few verses later in Ephesians (5:1) we are told to "be imitators of God, as dearly loved children". We can find many times in scripture where the God we are to imitate was angry, yet He never forgot that the anger was intended to bring about change. Once the need for change was put forth God offered love. Anger that is an outflow of love is not inherently bad.