Holy Anger?

This past weekend I took a spontaneous trip home. And when I say spontaneous, I mean it. My dad and I purchased the tickets the afternoon before my flight in the morning. (The trip was worth it- it was to surprise my little brother, who was in a musical, and who made me very proud to be his sister!)

And while I was home, I went to church.
The topic of the sermon: Anger
The main point: we are to control it. We are not to "let it out" or "keep it in" but to simply surrender it to God. No looking back. just give it up. Let it go, so to speak.



And although I'm sure this is the ideal option when dealing with things such as a stolen parking spot, or irreverent sarcasm, I can't help but wonder if there are some kinds of anger we shouldn't dismiss so easily... Can we really label anger as altogether bad? Isn't it those things that anger us which aslo prompt us to act in such a way that effects change?

After all, even Jesus, the only sinless human to walk this earth, showed a little righteous indignation:

13When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. 15So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" -John 2


Yet in this case, the same people who's tables he overturned, he also went to the cross and died for...

Well that's something to chew on. What are we to make of this kind of anger shrouded in such sacrificial forgiveness? Can the two actually go hand in hand? Is it possible to position our anger within the bounds of compassion, and Love?

Perhaps our anger is intended to prompt us to love all the more.

Wait a minute- so you're telling me the proper response to righteous frustration is acts of love?

That's right. When we are provoked, we are to lash out, but it's not with bitterness, intolerance, arrogance, or sword.

It's with love.

How's that for a challenge?

We have to realize that the laws of Christ's Kingdom are in opposition to the laws of this world, the laws of our very human nature, and that includes the laws of vengeance. We have to realize that victory comes not when we extinguish, execute, or smother evil (for by cutting a worm in half we only cause it to multiply). Rather, it comes when we transform evil, through love, into Good. We have underestimated our power. We've spent so much time in defense against those things which oppose the Kingdom, that we've forgetten to make use of our offense. It's about time we started to love offensively.

So go ahead, get angry about something. And bring out the most dangerous and effective weapon we possess.