Righteous Anger (1 of 3)

Righteous Anger (1 of 3)

I once wrote about anger and how it derails us from our walk with Jesus. Among the reactions that I received, was a thoughtful and earnest question about righteous anger. If anger is so bad, what is righteous anger and is it okay? How can I know if my anger is righteous?

Just reading through the Bible reveals a tension that exists in the midst of God’s people. The Bible clearly teaches that anger is a bad thing. Just read through Proverbs. Anger is described there as foolish, shameful, short-sighted, strife-inducing, harsh and fierce.

If you are wondering, those are not good qualities. So, the question looms, if anger is a bad thing, why does God get angry?

Why is Jesus pictured as angry at the Pharisees and the temple money-changers? Why is God angry at entire nations? Is anger good or is it bad?

This is going to take a couple of days to unravel, so let’s just start here with this: there is such a thing as righteous anger.

Anger is wrong whenever it leads us to sin but there are some things that SHOULD make us angry. The mistreatment of the young and elderly should anger all of us as should the oppression of the helpless and innocent. Abuse, corruption, neglect, injustice, theft, racism... all of these should spur a type of anger in us.

The question we are going to ask is this: Is your anger righteous or is it just a human emotion getting the best of you? Read this verse from James and then come back here tomorrow for a closer look.

James 1:19-20

“...everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”