Matthew 18:15

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

Many times people hide what they are angry about. If someone does something to offend them, rather than let the person know how they feel, they carry around a grudge. Sometimes they try to hurt the person. Other times they might just avoid them. In all of these cases, the anger, which may even be justified, winds up hurting one or both of the people in the confrontation.

Anger is something we were created with. Like all desires and feelings, it has its proper place in our lives. It would be a mistake to try to get to a point where we do not feel anger. Instead, we want to channel the anger, recognize the source, and use it to solve a problem. If our anger is truly righteous, then we indeed should be angry. God wants us to. He also wants us to use that anger to enact change.

Most change that happens on a wide scale happens because people get angry enough to take action. Our anger should also cause us to take action. One action is to protect the weak. However, the more common application is to help our brother or sister in Christ. When they wrong us, they violate not only us, but God as well. God told us that we are to love our neighbors. Anytime we do not, we are sinning against Him. What our anger does is cause us to confront our brother. However our motives must be pure. Instead of trying to injure them, we must look to have reconciliation. In fact, that is what God did for us by sending His Son. He moved toward peace with those who wronged Him. We must follow that example.

“If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.