July 5
Angry, Cain slaughtered his brother (Gen. 4:8).
Furious, Herod killed every Bethlehemite boy (Matt. 2:16).
Filled with resentment, Hitler obliterated six million Jews.[i]
When hatred fuels anger, it sheds blood and sets fire. It’s a Boeing aircraft in the side of a burning, crumbling World Trade Center.
It destroys.
And it doesn’t have a place inside God’s kingdom. But while sin lasts, there is room for a different breed of anger.
And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored (Mark 3:4-5).
Jesus seethed because these religious giants didn’t care for a disabled man. His Father wasn’t getting glory.
And what did his anger produce?
A healthy hand.
Something good, where there’d been deformity before.
That’s the difference between Cain, Herod, Hitler, and Jesus. Hate-anger burns things. Love-anger builds things.
It creates and restores.
Watch how Paul ends 1 Corinthians 13— the love chapter of the Bible:
Your restoration is what we pray for. For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you (2 Cor. 13:9-11, emphasis added).
Let’s look like Jesus by being angry in a way that clears the ground to build something beautiful.
. . .
[i] History.com. (2009, August 14). The Holocaust. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust
bethanyjmelton.com 