I read the exhortation of the Proverb, and it hits me with the weight of another command found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians; “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers” (2Corinthians 6:14). Don’t become partners with those who reject God (MSG). Don’t hamstring your walk in the Spirit by being tied to someone who is a slave to the flesh. Don’t dim your light by harnessing yourself with someone who lives in darkness. It’s been a command to obey and a principle to apply since my earliest days of walking with Jesus. And this command in Proverbs jumps off the page with a similar force as a command which — particularly in this current cultural moment — I think we in the family of God would do well to heed with diligence and fidelity.

Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
       nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways
       and entangle yourself in a snare.

(Proverbs 22:24-25 ESV)

Given to anger . . . Doesn’t that describe so much of the air we breathe in our culture today? Am I overstating it to say that being mad is the way of so much of our world right now? That anger seems ubiquitous. And that, in large part, because it’s the thing that the programming in our social media feeds aims for — outrage!

But the teacher says, Make no friendship with a man given to anger. Sounds a lot like John when he says, “Don’t love the world” (1John 2:15), or Paul when he writes, “Don’t be conformed to the world” (Romans 12:2). Don’t be its companion. Don’t follow its lead. Lest you learn his ways . . . lest you entangle yourself in a snare.

Oh, the siren cry of a man given to anger can be alluring, disguising itself as a “righteous wrath.” That somehow when standing for what’s right we can respond and speak in ways that are so wrong. Taking our cue from a world where tribes have become paramount and those outside the tribe are counted as enemies. And, having been ensnared by tribalism, rather than “love our enemies” (Mt. 5:44, Lk. 6:27, 35) we again take our cue from the man given to anger we’ve buddied up with and lash out and deride our enemies. And so, rather than “count others more significant than ourselves” (Php. 2:3), we fall prey to cancelling others as not worthy of compassion or understanding.

It’s an angry world. But we are not of the world (Jn. 17:16). Make no friendship with it . . .

Don’t learn its ways. Don’t let it entangle you in it’s snare.

For we are people of another way. A way in which the sun doesn’t go down on our anger, and we give no opportunity for the devil (Eph. 4:26-27). A way in which we should speak the truth with speech that is always “gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col. 4:6). A way in which we afford all others the respect due image bearers of God and, in particular, especially love fellow believers as brothers and sisters in the household of faith (Gal. 6:10).

Don’t be unequally yoked. Don’t hang with an angry world.

Lest you learn its ways . . . and sin takes you farther than you want to go . . .

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.