Be good and angry

This world can be such a beautiful place. There are natural wonders that take our breath away. God has blessed us with relationships that fill us with joy. His kindness is seen in the seemingly insignificant moments of everyday life.

But this world can also be a tragic place. Nothing has been exempt from the curse. We suffer from the effects of sin in our bodies. We suffer at the hands of one another. The sheer weight of the sorrow in this world is overwhelming if you stop and think about it. So sometimes it's easier to not think. It's tempting to turn off the news and move to a bunker in the wilderness just to get away from the injustice, greed, ambition, and corruption.

But I don't think God has meant us to become hermits. We still live in this world even though we are not of it. Neither does He want us to become callous and numb to the brokenness all around us. We should care deeply about justice and desire righteousness to prevail because our God is a just and holy God. We should care deeply because we have a hope that the world desperately needs. So where to we begin?

Well according to Paul Tripp, we start by getting angry:

Righteous anger should yank all of us out of selfish passivity. Righteous anger should call all of us to be a part of God's revolution of grace. It should propel us to do anything we can to lift the load of people's suffering and to bring them into the freedom of God's truth.

What is this anger like? It is kind and compassionate. It is tender and giving. It is patient and perserverant. It will make your heart open and your conscience sensitive. It will cause you to slow down and pay attention. It will cause you to expand the borders of your concern beyond you and yours…

Most of all, we need to pray that we would be angry. We must pray that a holy zeal for what is right and good would so fill our hearts that the evils around us, that greet us daily, would not be okay with us. We must pray that we would be angry until there is no reason to be angry anymore. And we must be vigilant, looking for every opportunity to express the righteous indignation of justice, mercy, wisdom, grace, compassion, patience, perseverance, and love. We must be agitated and restless until his kingdom has finally come and his will is finally being done on earth as it is in heaven. For the sake of his honor and his kingdom, we must determine to be good and angry at the same time...

God calls you to be good and he calls you to be angry. This broken world desperately needs people who will answer his call.

Broken-Down House, Paul David Tripp, Shepherd Press, 2009, pp. 132-134.