“Be Careful When Angry”

​B I B L E  B I T S  &  B I T E S
Devotions for Families

Season: Jesus’ Sermon on the Mountain
Episode 3: “Be Careful When Angry”
Today’s Bible Bite: Matthew 5:21-26

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MYCw5ykIyc (Douglas Talks – Righteous Anger – Is it ever OK to be angry?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBri0MwWGoM (Douglas Talks – Let It Go – Overlooking an offense)

“Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18, NLT)

Jesus didn’t teach that we should never be angry; He knew that sometimes it is right to be angry. However, Jesus did warn us to be careful about our anger because anger can be a dangerous emotion. It can cause us to do good and right wrongs, just like Jesus did when He got angry with people who were mistreating others and God’s house for money (Matthew 21:12-17); but sometimes, when we don’t try to control our anger, we can do some pretty awful things—like put people down, hurt others, judge them and refuse to forgive. God tells us very clearly that these reactions are wrong! Jesus wants us to love our enemies and pray for those who hurt us. We are to leave making judgements to God because that’s His job, not ours. And when we refuse to forgive, God says we won’t be forgiven because none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes and we need to forgive because God has forgiven us. Anger is just an emotion, like being sad or happy…it isn’t bad or good; however, we need to be very careful when we’re angry because when we don’t deal with it in the right way, we’re liable to make some wrong choices.

Think about it...
• Some people think that it is wrong to get angry, but that’s not true because even Jesus got angry. When is our anger right?
• When we get angry, we must never let it get out of control. What can happen if we do not control it?
• It can be natural to get mad at someone who is mean to us. But, what does God tell us we should do when this happens?
• When we’re angry, it can be tempting to judge others as ‘bad.’ Why shouldn’t we do this?
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Prayer: Thank you, God, for our emotions—even our emotion of anger. Help me to never let it get out of control. There are times that we should respond in anger to evil in this world; help me to remember to let my anger lead me to make good choices that will help others. Help me to bring peace in hard situations.
~ Pastor Jane