Lately, I’ve been drawn to the story in the Gospels where Jesus goes into the temple and overturns the tables of the people who were buying and selling in what was to be a house of prayer. Jesus got mad. He was like my dad circa 1991 when he came into my bedroom and tore the place up because he was so mad that I didn’t clean it when he told me to…or rather, what my dad did to my bedroom was like Jesus in the temple.
Righteous anger is a displeasure over sin. For us to be angry about sin such as racism, abuse, sex trafficking, deception and lies. Righteous anger doesn’t mean we get to “pop off” at someone on social media (or in real life). It means we take action. Our righteous anger motivates us to DO SOMETHING!
We have sat back for so long and watched these evil actions take place. We didn’t say anything publicly because we didn’t want to start a fight. We didn’t want to hear the predictable slanderous comments from people in our circle. It just wasn’t worth it. But now here we are. If we don’t feel that righteous anger by now…I don’t know what else it will take. It’s time to speak the truth. It’s time to speak out even when we are scared and know that our speaking out may cost us something. We do not have the luxury of silence any longer.
“Be angry but do not sin.” Ephesians 4:26
Oh this is a hard one. It’s so easy to get angry, especially these days and really pop off on social media. It takes all my will power to silence my fingers and scroll on. It’s so easy to cast judgement. And yet, we are told not to sin in our anger. So what do we do?
We share the truth in love and kindness. We resist engaging in fruitless debates and discussions with people who are just baiting us. It’s important to use discernment in our conversations with others – some people do not want their eyes to be opened. Move along, we don’t have time to engage with them.
I believe we need to ACT. What we need to do is likely not to be convenient. Maybe you feel a calling to run for a local office, your local school board or a national office. Pray about that. The best action we can take is to get conservatives (note: I did not say Republican) into elected position. Yes, it’s an uphill battle in this blue state, but I believe we CAN do it with the right people.
We can’t back down. We need to stand our ground – be it on social media, on the PTA, in the office. We stand for truth. If we do not stand strong, we lose. I’m not willing to lose without a fight. Are you?
In the words of Patriot Todd Beamer, LET’S ROLL!
