Get Mad Without
Getting Into Trouble
November 17, 2003
We're living in an angry age. The morning
newspaper and the nightly news are grisly reminders to the fact
that ugliness, random anger, short temper and bad manners are as
much a part of life in the city as traffic jams. Hardly a week
goes by without a reminder of the seething rage that exists in
our society.
It would be easy for us to think that all anger is
wrong. But the problem isn't with anger. It's with inappropriate
anger that's inappropriately expressed. Jesus felt anger that
was justified. He then expressed it appropriately.
One day his anger rose when he saw the temple
being turned into a marketplace. He seethed in rage because a
place of worship had become a place of illegal profit. Angry
that his Father's house had been defiled, Jesus did something
pretty radical. He drove the money changers out of the temple.
And he knocked over their tables in the process (Matthew
21:12-17).
As always, the Lord gives us a model we're to
follow. The next time you're angry, ask yourself, Am I angry
because my rights have been violated, or because someone else's
have been? Determine to get mad about the things that would make
Jesus mad, and express your anger in a way that honors God.
Of course, how we express anger varies according
to our temperament. Some of us need to walk away when we're mad.
We need time to work through our anger before we express it.
Others need to talk with a friend. Regardless of your unique
temperament, ask God for grace to deal with your anger in a way
that pleases him . . . in a way that runs contrary to the
destructive expressions of anger we read about every day.
|
