Anger

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:19-20, New International Version)

It’s hard sometimes not to get angry. If you read my blog post this past Friday, you may have heard some of the anger in my voice. It seems like getting angry should be a sin (though I didn’t see it in those ten commandments I taught you all about this summer). Then I remember the incident in the Bible, where Jesus got mad when he went into the Temple, knocking over tables and driving out the people who were buying and selling there.

I used to think, “ah-ha, anger cannot be a sin because Jesus got angry.”

We are reading the book of James in my Thursday afternoon Bible study, so I read up on these verses on anger.

There are two types of anger. One of them is selfish anger, where you get mad when you don’t get your way or your kids don’t do what you tell them or you can’t figure something out on your own or you stub your toe. You’re angry because these things caused an inconvenience or other minor trouble in your life. You are thinking of yourself and not others. Ah-ha, which is clearly a sin (if you remember anything from those Ten Commandments).  

The other type of anger is righteous anger, the kind Jesus had when he went into the Temple and saw things happening which were not of God. Or when we see the damage that sin does in the lives of innocent people. When kids are killed in school shootings or when a loved one is dying from cancer or when someone is being abused by their spouse. It’s okay to get angry over these things, but then the next step is to do something about it.

Oh, I know, it’s tough. No one wants to get involved in the injustices committed against others. But there is always something we can do. Look at the first two recommendations in this Bible passage – be quick to listen and slow to speak. Think about it.