Devotions from Jan Johnson’s book, “Invitation to the Jesus Life”

Was Jesus ever angry?  Jesus style of anger was not mean, but drenched with compassion.  His’ way involved loving people by focusing what was best for them. He wanted to restore their souls.

Even when he was scolding the Pharisees, he was after their pride in wanting to be applauded, their willingness to show off with religious duties, and their hypocrisy but missing the big picture of who God is: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.  He mourned the harm that their anger did to their own souls.
Our way of being angry with people does not usually involve having a heart that focuses on loving them. Many people bury their anger, or pretend it’s not there or vent their anger on others. . But we need to process our anger in God’s presence and see what He says to us. We can ask Him to give us a focused heart-wanting what is best for the person we are angry with. We can ask Him for a clean heart-one that refuses to be bitter or mean or defensive. We can ask God for a compassionate heart-mourning the harm this person is doing to self.

As we process our anger in God’ company, the central issue is usually needing to trust God more. Anger seems necessary only when we’re not sure God will help us.