We often struggle with loving to feel justified in our anger, or an innate need to be right. We are so quick to feel RIGHT in our anger, but it is very rarely righteous. The Bible talks about both our human anger and God’s righteous anger and offers us a clear picture as to which is which. We too often approach righteous anger from a human perspective, not a God perspective, and our emotional responses miss the mark and lead us, and others, away from the love of Christ.
Tim talked about making it a mission and changing our attitude. When we see injustice, or our unjustified anger wells up, we move into mission (instead of rage) – we move in the direction of LOVE. Anger eats up every ounce of joy and peace that God has commanded us to live in. In our anger, we rarely do good, but love covers over a multitude of sin (1Pet. 4:8).
Afterall, God does not need us to respond on his behalf. He says in Deuteronomy 32, “vengeance is mine, I shall repay.” The righteousness of God is never achieved by the anger of man. Whatever challenging, unjust, hurtful, or painful situation you find yourself or a loved one in, trust God to take care of it. Whether our anger and frustration is righteous or not, it offers us nothing beneficial in return. Far better to release it and offer it to the Lord.
Instead of focusing on our anger, let’s look to the grace of God. The grace that has saved us, wretched sinners that we are, from the wrath of God and offered us eternal life with Christ Jesus in heaven. Our salvation alone ought to be enough to quell our anger and help us to see others not as human failures deserving of our rebuke, but children of God, equally broken and burdened by sin, and equally desperate for the love, grace and forgiveness of God as we are. “His grace is enough, it’s so big and so free.
His grace is enough, for you and for me.” This is a line repeated in one of my child’s bedtime books. It might be geared toward little hearts, but it speaks clearly to mine as well. How easily we forget the power of God’s love in our own lives, the warmth of a parent’s embrace when we expected harsh rebuke, the forgiveness from a friend (or enemy) we didn’t earn and don’t deserve. Ask God to help you shift away from anger and toward his lovingkindness. Embrace grace and let it transform you, and others, from the inside out.