Matthew 21:12 “And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves.”

RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

Have you ever gotten mad?  Dumb question, right?  We all get mad sometimes.  But usually we don’t have a good reason.  I have always told children I work with, “No one can make you mad.”  You see if we let someone else make us mad, we have given them power over us.  Don’t let them have that power.

However, it is okay to get mad over the right things.  Jesus was mad!  He entered the temple and “drove out” all those folks who were treating it like a market place.  He turned over tables.  He made a scene!  But it was over the right thing.  He was mad how they were treating His Father’s house.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our kids get mad, don’t they?  Sure they do.  We have to teach them how and when to get mad.  Getting mad about losing a ballgame is not appropriate.  Seeing another child getting picked on and made fun of is reason to get “angry.”  We need to teach them that we should be mad about evil in our world.  But we can’t act like the world.  We have to allow the Lord to show us how He wants us to respond.

Now, I kind of doubt He will ask us to go into church and turn tables over and drive people out.  But He may ask us to speak out on behalf of the unborn.  He may ask us to step in and defend the helpless.  You just don’t know what He will ask you to do until you are willing.

Moms and Dads, don’t take this as permission to jump and “defend” your child every time they run into a bully.  Some battles our children must face by themselves (with your support, of course).  But you will teach them so much by how you handle your anger.  Do you snap at people when they jump in front of you in traffic?  Do you yell at the neighbor whose dog just left a “prize” on your lawn?  That is NOT the right kind of anger.

Let the Lord show you how to get mad in the right way.  He knows how!