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Righteous Anger

Description

Look to Jesus for how to deal with personal attacks. Save your righteous anger for situations where God is not respected and where other people are mistreated.

"In your anger do not sin." - Ephesians 4:26 NIV

All of us struggle with anger; it’s a part of life. Do you ever feel your anger is justified? Have you ever used the term righteous anger? The phrase is often used when someone has wronged us; we say, “I have every right to be angry.” And then to justify our anger, we’ll add, “Jesus showed righteous anger, didn’t He?”

Well, yes, He did. But it is important to note what triggered His righteous anger. When Jesus entered the temple and found it had been turned into a place of greed and materialism for taking advantage of the poor, He was furious. Why? Because God was not being respected, and people were being taken advantage of.

Jesus became indignant when the disciples would not allow children to visit with Him. The disciples didn’t consider the children as important. They felt that Jesus was “too busy” for them. It made Him furious.

But understand this: Jesus never got angry when He was treated unjustly. So how did He react when He was the target of injustice? Look at what Jesus did when He was unfairly sentenced to death, the ultimate act of personal injustice. He prayed, “Father, forgive them” (Luke 23:34).

Look to Jesus for how to deal with personal attacks. And save your righteous anger for situations where God is not respected and other people are mistreated. God’s Word teaches us that this is the time to be angry—but not to sin.

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