March 12

Ephesians 4:25 – 32

Link to Bible Verses: Ephesians 4

Discernment: requires prayer and time, sometimes a lot of time

We are back to visiting what early Christian communities looked like under Paul’s guidance. My understanding is that Ephesians is less a letter to a specific community and more a letter for the entirety of an expanding body of Christ. These verses, in particular, begin a section on guidance for daily living as Christians and in community. I am struck by the clarity and seeming simplicity. If only living the Way were this easy, right?

In reflecting on these verses, I am drawn toward Paul’s comments on anger. Verse 26 says, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun set on your anger.” While verse 31 reads, “All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice.” On the surface, these seem contradictory, don’t they? Be angry, but anger must be removed from you.

Notice that Paul does not say “Stop being angry”; instead, he asks that we allow anger to be removed from us. Those are two very different requests, and the difference rests on the reality of anger. We are going to feel anger. Paul gets that. Think about the anger he threw at and acted out toward followers of Christ before his conversion. He seems to understand that denying or repressing our anger is not the way to go. Instead, the implication is that through community centered on the Ways of Christ, we can release our anger, as well as our bitterness, fury, shouting, reviling, and malice; we don’t need to act it out, especially in ways that cause harm to self, other, or our relationship with God. Arguably, this release requires discernment, requires time in reflective connection with people we trust and with whom we can be vulnerable, and it requires time with God. When we attune to the places where God intersects with our experiences of anger, we can use our anger for good rather than harm. Ask John Lewis.

Thank you to Linda Land-Closson for writing our 2026 Lenten Devotions.