Stop Playing Nice (or How to Be Angry)

"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give opportunity to the Devil."  -Ephesians 4:26-27 (ESV)

   Can I just admit in all honesty something you that might make you cringe (if you're a churchgoer, that is)?  I hate greeters.  I don't hate them personally, just that they are there.  You know, the men in suits who stand in the lobby of your local Baptist church and smile and shake your hand when you come in?  Their whole purpose is to be the Nice Face of the church.  Their whole purpose is to reassure you: See, we're nice people here; we're friendly!  Their whole purpose is to be your friend during your first impression.
   What I hate about greeters is just that they are so Nice.  There is something false about it, akin to paying someone to go to dinner with you.  In my idea of a church, a good church, a church in tune with the Lord, you wouldn't need to appoint greeters, people would walk in and feel the Holy Spirit, like you would feel steam if you walked into a sauna.  Not that there is anything particularly wrong with being friendly; it's the damnable Niceness I can't stand.
   Let me define Nice for us.  My meaning is that of being pleasant and agreeable, as most dictionaries define it.  But also I mean that tendency to deal meekly with people; to avoid stepping on any toes; just trying to make a good impression and keep people happy so that everyone feels good about everyone else, and there's no animosity or contention.  Nice people are passive, they are pushovers, they are mainly concerned about avoiding offense.
   Here is what I have said many times about the Baptist Church because that is my background, but which can be said for any denomination in the Body of Christ: they mistake being Nice for being Powerful.  They assume that it is bold to be nice.  Many people in the Church have assumed that there is power in being nice.  The truth is that there isn't.  But there is power in being angry.  The power of God resides in righteous anger.
   Look at what Paul says, quoting Psalms: "Be angry".  This is a command.  Paul (and God, who inspires scripture) is telling us what we should do.  And of course there is an important caveat, which is "do not sin."  That means, we should have righteous anger.  We should channel the anger of God.  And what is God angry about?  Sin.  His wrath is directed at sin because He is Holy.  And so, in order to conform to His likeness, we should adopt His anger.  So be pissed off at the devil.  Hate the crap that goes on in the world, the sin and misery and injustice.  For God's sake, be angry.
   It's so important to be angry, in fact, that Paul tells us to not let our anger abate.  Did you catch that?  You might have thought when he said, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger," that he meant, Don't go to bed angry.  But that's not what he's saying.  The phrasing here means don't let the end come to your anger.  Let it continue indefinitely.  Just like when the sun sets on the day, and that means that the day is over, so too Paul is saying don't let the ending of your anger come.
   I think that we have made the false assumption that we show our love by being Nice.  I can see where we got that.  The world has been working to make us Nice for a long time.  In fact, the Enemy wants us to be so damn nice that we'll become the doormats of everyone else.  You see, Nice People don't confront the errors of those around them, because confrontation isn't nice.  It's just not nice to call someone out when they're wrong.  While most Christians I know would not consider themselves "tolerant" in the liberal sense of the word, they also don't quite grasp how to "hate the sin and love the sinner".  It doesn't take a lot of nerve to decry gay marriage on Facebook, or to fund the Republican Party because they have a zero tolerance stance on abortion in their party platform.  Righteous anger will manifest itself to God's glory in our intimate lives -- with our friends and family, in our close relationships, in one-on-one conversations.  Righteous anger will bring a good deal of discomfort into our lives, and we won't be able to hid behind the skirts of an Organization, Association, or Party.
   Being Powerful as God has called us to be will inevitably offend some of those closest to us.  Even Believers will sometimes be offended by what the Lord has put in us, usually because we stopped being nice.  Whenever you speak Truth to someone, and someone else says, That wasn't very nice, you'll know you're onto something.  And if someone does say this to you, ask yourself: Yes, but was it True?  Was it Powerful?  And was it God?
   Be angry, and do not sin.
   You know something else God hates?  He hates confusion in His Church.  God does not create confusion, He brings order.  It's the devil that brings confusion.  The devil brings false doctrines and lies.  The devil creates rifts in churches over theology, over doctrine, and even over the color of the carpet.  The devil has perverted anger, just like he has perverted so many things from God, and now we find ourselves as Believers confused about anger, to the point that we'd just as soon resign ourselves to being nice.  Why deal with the conflict?  Surely God just wants us to be friends.  I think at times we put the words of Rodney King into the mouth of God: "Can't we all just get along?"  But what God really wants is for us to be like Him.  And He isn't nice.  He's kind, yes.  We know that because kindness is the fruit of the Spirit.  He is loving (in fact, He is love).  He is honest, dependable, faithful, and good.  But he isn't nice.  And so we shouldn't be either.