Joy replaces Anger

The problem with harboring anger is that one is left with a lot of bitterness, self-pity, and a lousy attitude. When God forgives our sins of anger, the Holy Spirit replaces the anger with something new and refreshing. We receive the fruit of the Spirit known as joy. Turning to Paul’s letter to the Philippians, especially the fourth chapter, we see how amazing that joy really is.

Paul wrote this letter from prison. He was not a free man when he wrote, yet he wrote as the freest of men. His counsel from prison was to rejoice. When we sit in our own prison of self-pity and anger, what wonderful counsel it is to bring us freedom.

Paul understood that joy was not something we manufacture inside ourselves. It is fruit that the Holy Spirit bears in our lives. He does that by empowering certain practices in our lives. Let’s look at what they are.

Paul says in verse five that you practice joy when you “Let your gentleness be evident to all.” To make this happen the Holy Spirit has to do two things. First, he takes from us our legal rights. That is total opposite of what anger demands. To be gentle is to give up any claim we have to restitution for what wrongs have been done us. This gentleness is illustrated in God through Jesus Christ. God did not treat us according to what justice demanded concerning our disobedience to him. Jesus instead took our punishment on the cross. Because of what Jesus did for us, God can now be gentle with us by being kind, patient, and generous toward us.

Anger is quick to demand justice and, if left to fester, revenge. The Holy Spirit frees us to turn the issue of justice over to God and empowers us to love our enemies (Matt 5:43-48). This love may never equate to liking an enemy, but it will show itself in gentle ways we deal with our enemy. This gentle choice is available to us by the working of the Holy Spirit.

Second, the Holy Spirit points to the sun. In Ephesians 4:26 he says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” He does not expect us to simply drop our anger or ignore it. He does not expect us to solve every problem before sundown. He enables us to process the anger. This happens when we turn our need for justice and revenge over to the Lord. This happens when we reflect on the love and forgiveness that is freely ours in Jesus. This happens when we make the choice to be gentle rather than vengeful. It is then that we are able to listen rather than speak and slow down the process of anger by not allowing it to fester in our lives (James 1:19-20).