Anger is not necessarily a bad emotion to feel. God Himself gets angry. The Bible says, ‘The Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice’ (1 Kings 11:9 NKJV). But it needs to be the right kind of anger. It needs to be righteous anger. The Bible says: ‘Hate what is evil, and hold on to what is good’ (Romans 12:9 NCV). When we become aware of ‘evil’ happening in the world, we’re not supposed to ignore it. We shouldn’t be indifferent about it. We should be against it, and be committed to bringing good. Often change begins with righteous anger. Aristotle once said: ‘Anybody can become angry; that’s easy. But to be angry with the right person…to the right degree…at the right time…for the right purpose, and in the right way …that’s not easy.’ But it’s possible. Jesus experienced righteous anger. When people were questioning whether He should be healing on the Sabbath, He ‘was angry as he looked at the people, and he felt very sad because they were stubborn. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man held out his hand and it was healed’ (Mark 3:5 NCV). Jesus’ anger led to change and to good - the man was healed. There are many things in the world that we should get angry about. From injustice to oppression, suffering to hurt, racism to slavery, poverty to greed – there are so many issues that can make us angry. But that anger needs to fuel change. We need to decide to do something about what’s making us angry, we need to take a moral stand.

What Now?

What things in the world are making you angry at the moment? Find a way to make a stand, however big or small, and bring some good into the situation.