Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Anger”
Our Bible verse for today: “Jesus went into the temple complex and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves.” Matthew 21:12 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes we should be angry.”
Most of what we’ll talk about this month will pertain to inappropriate expressions of anger, along with the damage uncontrolled anger causes and how to get better control over our anger. However sometimes anger is justified. Sometimes anger is even good and necessary. There are some things that should make us mad and which should move us to take action.
Few things will get my blood boiling faster or hotter than child abuse. We should get angry at those who would abuse a child, and our anger should move us to take the action necessary to protect the child.
The slaughter of thousands upon thousands of innocent Christian men, women, and children in Iraq and Syria by the terrorists of ISIS is infuriating and moves me to demand that our government take action to intervene and protect those innocents.
In Matthew 21:12 we read about the time that Jesus entered the temple complex in Jerusalem and found the merchants profaning God’s holy temple by using it as a marketplace. He was angry enough to storm through the place, turning over tables and driving the merchants and their animals out.
What we’re talking about here is “righteous” anger. It’s an expression of anger that is right, it is good, it is justified, and it is necessary. Also, it is under control. This isn’t a person storming around in a blind rage. This is someone who is in full control of their emotions. Their thinking is clear, their actions are under control, and they are proceeding with a determined purpose to address an evil situation that cannot be allowed to continue.
Jesus was an expert at righteous anger. There are several other incidents recorded for us in the New Testament of Him being righteously angry. Unfortunately, we’re not nearly as good at it as He is. Even in those cases where anger is justified and appropriate, if we aren’t careful it can still get the better of us. In the New Testament we are repeatedly cautioned to guard against anger.
I wanted to include this thought, right at the beginning of our monthly series on anger, to make the point that not all anger is bad. There are times when it would be wrong if we did not get angry. But we need to be careful here. Anger is such a volatile human emotion, and therefore so hard to control, that in those cases when it is justified we must be sure we keep it fully surrendered to, and under the control of, the Holy Spirit.
Some things should make us angry. But we must look to the Holy Spirit to help us know when to get angry, and how to express that anger in a righteous manner that honors God.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 