I wonder to myself what about the scene at the temple that Jesus saw that made him angry (Luke 19:45-47). And what about the scene at Calvary that made him compliant, willing and submissive even if He had every right to be angry. What was the difference?
And I understand it wasn't about the difference. It was about a common factor that each compelled in him different responses. Jesus was controlled by a common denominator called being submissive to the Father's will.
In the first scene where He threw over the merchandise of people selling in the temple, Jesus was angry because they were keeping His people and Gentiles from coming into His house by their overcharged selling of animals. He implied that His Father's house shall be a house of prayer, not a den for robbers. The people who were selling animals for sacrifice were not that honest, either charging big fees or selling sickly animals. And so Jesus was angry (Source: Victory Christian Fellowship).
In the second scene, the Lord was surprisingly very composed. He had more reason to be angry. He was very pressured. All tiredness, soreness, betrayal, everything coming to Him from all angles and yet He kept himself from committing a mistake because otherwise He would be with sin, and He would not be able to save us.
The common denominator was His Father's will. Jesus was only doing what God asked Him to do. He was human who feels anger but His anger was more controlled by His love - love for His father, love for other people, and love for the world He was sent to die for.
Jesus was more controlled by this love. When we talk about the characters of God, one of His characters as revealed in the Bible is He is slow to anger.
We were created to have some of God's qualities and one of them is to feel emotion. Even the emotion of anger. But sometimes this is one of the most misunderstood of all emotions. What is anger? A search on Merriam Webster defines anger as "an intense emotional state induced by displeasure," or "a strong feeling of displeasure."
In my direst times, somehow I learned that anger is like energy. Ignoring it does not necessarily mean it is not there. And sometimes we feel shame when we get angry. So instead of demonizing it and hiding it under the bush, I feel it is best that we turn to God for the answers with this normal emotional feeling.
It is uncontrolled anger that becomes sin. IF the anger causes us to do things clearly not of God, it becomes sin for us.
Looking at Christ who was perfect, His secret was that He never let anger get Him outside of His Father's will. God is slow to anger.
He restrains Himself. Anger is an emotion He never let become more powerful than love. Perhaps we can consider how we can turn the emotion into something more productive instead. And to remember the Apostle Paul's words, that in our anger, we do not sin. And not let the sun go down while we're still angry unless the devil gets a foothold.
And above all, Jesus taught to forgive and to pray for the other person who made us angry. It helps me to know that my God understood the emotion. For He has been there. The answer to dealing with the issues that confront us lie within Him who also felt it. He felt the problem of sin - the reality of it but He never sinned. He was fully man and yet He showed in perfect example what God was like.
Jesus endured it all to save us. That was His purpose. While I don't think that's my purpose, I think part of His purpose is to help me become more like His son. Jesus was a secure big guy who never questioned His worth. I believe My Jesus is tall and big. He is a gentleman but He is also macho in His own respectable way. I will never question Jesus' manhood even if He remained single His whole life or even if He never need prove He was strong. Jesus was macho when He showed how to cover a lady and when He would handle petty man fights His disciples would have from time to time. He knew how best to handle both genders in His own way.
Jesus was very secure to never let anger defeat Him. He was worthy of respect and yet never subdued anyone to command it. He was a very secure gentleman.
We all deal with doubts about our worth and insecurity. And sometimes our anger is just one way we use to express the unfulfilled need for security. Sometimes we use it to command security because deep inside we are insecure human beings.
And God knows we need security. But He hopes that we will find it in Him. That we find our manhood or our womanhood in our relationship with God.
Being insecure is a normal human feeling. We need not be ashamed of it. It is best to understand where it is coming from to be fully free to release and give it to God. And with His help be able to overcome the emotion.
To the Lord, true freedom is not to be mastered by anything - nothing in heaven above or the earth below. True freedom is to be free to give anything to God who gives and who takes away as He pleases. To not hold and freely release when it is time. A person who is truly secure in God can freely do this. Because to him, He understands God is worth more than anything in heaven and on earth. He understands that God is the Great I AM. Whatever he needs in life, God is and can be. That's the freedom God wishes to give. That we not be mastered by anything that's temporal and won't last.
If I had a choice, I wish I could not feel anger anymore. However, I am comforted that I am given the power by God to do His will even in the midst of it, even in the midst of the most tempting of emotions.
Being tempted is not sin. We need not feel condemned when we feel tempted. It becomes sin when it goes out of bounds with God's will. Remember anger is an emotion. Emotion is somehow an effect come to think of it. If we understand the source - what has caused it within us - perhaps it'll be easier to acknowledge and understand it and then release it - and release it to God.
Pastor Chip Ingram from Living on the Edge shares that anger - the right kind - can be made productive. It will fuel us to create change, have things done right or better. God gets angry with us sometimes because He loves us. He loves us too much to let anything come to a point of destroying us. That's the kind of anger God feels. It's an anger out of His love that He doesn't want you to be like the rest of creation that does not know He exists or when we choose the self-destructive ways over His ways.
Perhaps anger is meant to be just like a ticker - to tell us something is wrong, something we can first pray about. Or pray for ourselves - our own emotion. Why am I feeling this emotion? Am I in the right to feel this or is there something I have to do about it? Is it a selfish anger or more of the protective anger? Is it God's will for me to fix this? Then if our part is done, we can release it, forgive or let it go.
Anger is just an emotion but God's love is greater. It is great even in our weakness and God can help us to deal with it in a more constructive way. This I pray, even for myself. In Jesus Name. Amen.
(If you know more about this subject, please feel free to leave any wisdom or advice in the comments below. Please free to help us and share what you know. Thank you. God bless!)
And I understand it wasn't about the difference. It was about a common factor that each compelled in him different responses. Jesus was controlled by a common denominator called being submissive to the Father's will.
In the first scene where He threw over the merchandise of people selling in the temple, Jesus was angry because they were keeping His people and Gentiles from coming into His house by their overcharged selling of animals. He implied that His Father's house shall be a house of prayer, not a den for robbers. The people who were selling animals for sacrifice were not that honest, either charging big fees or selling sickly animals. And so Jesus was angry (Source: Victory Christian Fellowship).
 |
| Jesus being mocked (Image source: Bibleencyclopedia.com) |
The common denominator was His Father's will. Jesus was only doing what God asked Him to do. He was human who feels anger but His anger was more controlled by His love - love for His father, love for other people, and love for the world He was sent to die for.
Jesus was more controlled by this love. When we talk about the characters of God, one of His characters as revealed in the Bible is He is slow to anger.
We were created to have some of God's qualities and one of them is to feel emotion. Even the emotion of anger. But sometimes this is one of the most misunderstood of all emotions. What is anger? A search on Merriam Webster defines anger as "an intense emotional state induced by displeasure," or "a strong feeling of displeasure."
In my direst times, somehow I learned that anger is like energy. Ignoring it does not necessarily mean it is not there. And sometimes we feel shame when we get angry. So instead of demonizing it and hiding it under the bush, I feel it is best that we turn to God for the answers with this normal emotional feeling.
It is uncontrolled anger that becomes sin. IF the anger causes us to do things clearly not of God, it becomes sin for us.
Looking at Christ who was perfect, His secret was that He never let anger get Him outside of His Father's will. God is slow to anger.
He restrains Himself. Anger is an emotion He never let become more powerful than love. Perhaps we can consider how we can turn the emotion into something more productive instead. And to remember the Apostle Paul's words, that in our anger, we do not sin. And not let the sun go down while we're still angry unless the devil gets a foothold.
And above all, Jesus taught to forgive and to pray for the other person who made us angry. It helps me to know that my God understood the emotion. For He has been there. The answer to dealing with the issues that confront us lie within Him who also felt it. He felt the problem of sin - the reality of it but He never sinned. He was fully man and yet He showed in perfect example what God was like.
 |
| Jesus at the cross triumphed over it all because He loves you (Image source: http://ourghanablog.wordpress.com) |
Jesus endured it all to save us. That was His purpose. While I don't think that's my purpose, I think part of His purpose is to help me become more like His son. Jesus was a secure big guy who never questioned His worth. I believe My Jesus is tall and big. He is a gentleman but He is also macho in His own respectable way. I will never question Jesus' manhood even if He remained single His whole life or even if He never need prove He was strong. Jesus was macho when He showed how to cover a lady and when He would handle petty man fights His disciples would have from time to time. He knew how best to handle both genders in His own way.
Jesus was very secure to never let anger defeat Him. He was worthy of respect and yet never subdued anyone to command it. He was a very secure gentleman.
We all deal with doubts about our worth and insecurity. And sometimes our anger is just one way we use to express the unfulfilled need for security. Sometimes we use it to command security because deep inside we are insecure human beings.
And God knows we need security. But He hopes that we will find it in Him. That we find our manhood or our womanhood in our relationship with God.
Being insecure is a normal human feeling. We need not be ashamed of it. It is best to understand where it is coming from to be fully free to release and give it to God. And with His help be able to overcome the emotion.
To the Lord, true freedom is not to be mastered by anything - nothing in heaven above or the earth below. True freedom is to be free to give anything to God who gives and who takes away as He pleases. To not hold and freely release when it is time. A person who is truly secure in God can freely do this. Because to him, He understands God is worth more than anything in heaven and on earth. He understands that God is the Great I AM. Whatever he needs in life, God is and can be. That's the freedom God wishes to give. That we not be mastered by anything that's temporal and won't last.
If I had a choice, I wish I could not feel anger anymore. However, I am comforted that I am given the power by God to do His will even in the midst of it, even in the midst of the most tempting of emotions.
Being tempted is not sin. We need not feel condemned when we feel tempted. It becomes sin when it goes out of bounds with God's will. Remember anger is an emotion. Emotion is somehow an effect come to think of it. If we understand the source - what has caused it within us - perhaps it'll be easier to acknowledge and understand it and then release it - and release it to God.
Pastor Chip Ingram from Living on the Edge shares that anger - the right kind - can be made productive. It will fuel us to create change, have things done right or better. God gets angry with us sometimes because He loves us. He loves us too much to let anything come to a point of destroying us. That's the kind of anger God feels. It's an anger out of His love that He doesn't want you to be like the rest of creation that does not know He exists or when we choose the self-destructive ways over His ways.
Perhaps anger is meant to be just like a ticker - to tell us something is wrong, something we can first pray about. Or pray for ourselves - our own emotion. Why am I feeling this emotion? Am I in the right to feel this or is there something I have to do about it? Is it a selfish anger or more of the protective anger? Is it God's will for me to fix this? Then if our part is done, we can release it, forgive or let it go.
Anger is just an emotion but God's love is greater. It is great even in our weakness and God can help us to deal with it in a more constructive way. This I pray, even for myself. In Jesus Name. Amen.
(If you know more about this subject, please feel free to leave any wisdom or advice in the comments below. Please free to help us and share what you know. Thank you. God bless!)
Comments
Post a Comment