Satan's Easy Access

Friday - March 25th

Scripture to Read Today: Ephesians 4:17-32

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"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

A few years back, Disney's Pixar released, Inside Out, a movie about the emotions inside the mind of a girl named Riley. The film included a character named "Anger." He is the red Emotion and one of the five emotions inside the young girl's mind. The other core characters are Joy, Fear, Disgust, and Sadness. The Disney cartoonists took on the formidable challenge of drawing characters representing immaterial feelings - not an easy task.

If you look at the picture of all five emotions on this page, the most obvious one is anger. The red color, the look on his face, and the fire coming from the top of his head make it impossible to mistake him for any other characters. All of us know what it feels like to be upset. We know how furious we feel and how much it burns when something ticks us off.

Anger rips us up on the inside, hurts the people we love the most, and often splashes on innocent bystanders. Rage sometimes simmers for a long time, only to be fully released at a moment that causes the greatest disruption in our lives and the lives of others. Recovering from an angry outburst can take a lot of time and effort to rebuild what has been broken.

Beyond the usual outcomes of uncontrolled rage, The Apostle Paul said something about anger that ought to get our attention. "'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). So unresolved anger and bitterness open a door for the devil to settle into our lives.

We stop Satan from getting a foothold in our hearts by addressing anger properly with God and others. Confessing an outburst, a harsh word, or a scene our rage caused keeps the devil from getting an advantage. He uses unresolved anger to access our lives.

When we address our anger before the sun goes down, we keep Satan from gaining access to our lives.