Blind Fury

READ: LUKE 6:6-11; EPHESIANS 4:26-27

Do you ever feel great, unanticipated anger come upon you? And when you get past that moment, can you really pinpoint why you were angry?

It can be overwhelming and so confusing to have this happen, and people have always struggled with it, as you can see from today’s reading. Jesus healed a man miraculously on the Sabbath. But the Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, had a surprising reaction to this wonderful event: they were furious.

Why? Because Jesus had “worked” on the Sabbath, a rest day in God’s law. While God does call His people to take times of rest, the Pharisees had made all sorts of extra rules about what you could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath. So, when Jesus healed the man that day, the Pharisees were upset because Jesus had lovingly revealed that they were wrong.

But they didn’t want to admit that; they were too proud. They had blind fury. They didn’t know why they were mad, and they didn’t care about who they were in relationship to Jesus.

But it doesn’t have to be that way for us. No matter what the reason for our anger, we find freedom from it when we are well-grounded in God’s Word, the Bible, which shows us who we are according to God.

The Bible does not say anger is a sin. However, it does instruct, “Be angry and do not sin… and don’t give the devil an opportunity” (Ephesians 4:26-27). Whether we’re sinning in response to our feelings of anger or we’re sinning in other ways, Satan loves to seize opportunities to sway our view from who we are in Christ.

As a child of God in Christ, remember this: “Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger” (James 1:19). When you’re angry, turn to Christ for the next steps and for reminders of who you are in Him. • Carrie Cwynar

• If you know Christ, who are you (John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10; 2 Timothy 1:7)?

• When you are angry and tempted to sin, how can reflecting on the truths of the good news of Jesus help (1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:14-16)?

My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. James 1:19 (CSB)