Healthy Anger - Martin Wiles

I am furious with the wicked, those who reject your law. Psalm 119:53 NLT

No one has the power to make me mad, but they can create the circumstances making the possibility greater. 

When I read of a parent who drives a vehicle into the lake in an attempt to kill herself and her children, I get angry. When someone steals something from me that I’ve worked hard to get, I get angry. If my boss ignores the hard work I’ve been doing for the last ten years and gives a promotion to some Johnny-come-lately, it frosts me. And if a doctor’s office turns my account over to a collection agency without sending me a bill, my anger flares. 

When I think of all the stupid things I’ve done or said because I was angry, it makes me wonder why God created this emotion. After all, if my body needs all the parts he put there, it must need all the emotions as well. I’ve learned there are some body parts I can live without—a gall bladder being one of them. As all my body parts have a particular function, so do my emotions…anger among them. 

Of all the things I could but shouldn’t get mad about, wickedness is one. The psalmist didn’t hate the wicked but rather what resulted from their wickedness. Jesus felt the same when he cast the merchants out of one of the temple courts. They were cheating people and preventing foreigners from worshiping. 

The only healthy anger is that which reacts against wickedness. As a believer, it should upset me when I see evil acts. Murder, theft, robbery, abuse, lying, etc. How I respond to such actions is just as important as the fact that they make me angry. I don’t agree with killing the unborn, but it’s not acceptable for me to kill the doctor who’s killing them. 

Healthy anger will propel me toward legal and godly actions. And it will stir in me the need to act. Turning my head to wickedness won’t make it go away. 

Repressed anger is dangerous, but so is accepting wickedness without taking action. When you witness wickedness, let your anger direct you to a godly response designed to bring about good. 

Prayer: Father, guide us to healthy anger and godly responses when we witness evil around us. 

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