What
makes you angry?
I am not talking about mildly annoyed, a bit irritated, or somewhat disturbed. I am talking about screaming, jumping up and down, throwing fragile objects about and terrifying your neighbors.
I am not talking about mildly annoyed, a bit irritated, or somewhat disturbed. I am talking about screaming, jumping up and down, throwing fragile objects about and terrifying your neighbors.
What really makes you angry? Is it the massive killings by those who justify themselves as good religious people? Is it the “clean upstanding citizens” by day that financially support human sex trafficking by night? Is it the repeated event of a young person killed because they appeared threatening but were unarmed? Or is it someone close to you who lied, cheated or abused you?
Throughout history anger has led to some horrible events and monumental successes. In the Bible, Cain got angry and ended up murdering his brother Abel (Genesis 4:5, 8). In the US, a generation was angry and started the Civil Rights Movement. What mattered was not that they were angry, but the actions they took once they became angry. Scripture says to be angry but not to sin and to not let the sun go down on your wrath (Ephesians 4:26).
As Christians, we should be angry about sin, not compromise with it, and not go along with it. It is time to get angry about injustice, racism, bullying, and anything that is contrary to God’s word. God says that He is angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11). Jesus was not indifferent to injustice; He called the religious leaders whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27) and beat the temple money changers out of His Father's House (Matthew 21:12, 13).
As often as you experience these feelings of anger, we must realize that there is a constant spiritual battle going on that we cannot see (Ephesians 6:12). Let us focus our anger on the devil whose main job is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Let us put on our spiritual fighting gear, God’s armor, so that we can stand firm against the strategies of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). Let us pray for those who use and abuse us (Luke 6:28). When we are faced with egregious sin, let us not act on our own, but seek God who will lead us and direct us in how we should proceed (Proverbs 3:6).
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