Message summary: Let God’s Word saturate your life today: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires”.  

Listen to our message on your audio player.

“Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming” (Proverbs 27:4). “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control” (Proverbs 29:11). “Man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:20). “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).

I sure appreciate illustrations from the regular stuff of life which is how Jesus essentially illustrated when he spoke in parables. Yesterday's message was a lesson based on the GFI, an electrical device most of us have in our homes as we all should. It's designed to protect us from electrical shocks.

Today we are going to consider a spiritual lesson from another common home safety device, the TPR on your water heater. Now I am sure there are readers who are unaware of this safety device, especially since water heaters are usually placed in a room out of the way such as the corner of the basement or a closet.

TPR stands for “Temperature & Pressure Relief”. It’s a valve virtually all of us have on our hot water heater that is designed to open if the temperature or pressure exceeds a certain point. This is an important safety feature to prevent the hot water heater tank from exploding. I have never had a TPR open up in my home but I am still thankful for this safety feature.

Let us consider when we deal with anger and having a spiritual TPR. That is, when we get hot with anger and our pressure builds up, how do we find relief? Do we explode or do we have a means of safely dissipating that anger?

Anger is an ancient human condition first seen in Cain prior to the first murder.  When his offering was not accepted "he was very angry, and his face fell".  He exploded in anger and killed his own brother. He sure didn't have a TPR.

Throughout the Bible we see evidences of unrestrained anger and certainly it is a human condition all readers are familiar with. It gets a lot of attention in the media – whether it’s road rage, anger in the workplace, school, at home, or wherever one chooses to unleash his or her fury on others.

As a follower of Christ and student of the Bible I believe there’s a significant contributing factor to the increase of unrestrained anger. Through much of our history the teachings and principles of the Bible had a restraining impact upon our culture. This even impacted those who were not specifically followers of Jesus Christ. Most knew about the “Golden Rule”, it’s just plain common sense. There was an unspoken understanding that we are to be kind and respectful to one another and practice self-control even if it was not reciprocated.

But now with this restraint missing we see a pandemic of anger and rage in many forms. But virtually no consideration is given regarding the spiritual reasons for this increase in violence!

Anger in itself is not a sin. The Bible records several occasions when Christ was angry (see Mark 3:5). In fact I believe sometimes it would be unhealthy not to be angry! God included it in our emotional constitution and there are times when it is the appropriate response.

Here's a verse of restraint: “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.” Paul is giving practical instructions on life to the Ephesian believers. He acknowledges that there will be times the believer is angry.

In this text the Bible lists three vital restraints on anger. We can see these points as being like a TPR:

Let God’s Word saturate your life today: “My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19,20).

Be encouraged today!  Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber