Looking For The Loophole to be Angry

Have you ever felt completely justified in being angry at someone, even after knowing what Jesus says in Matthew 5:21?

I know I have.

In studying this passage for a lesson at church, I found it interesting and convicting that part of what Jesus was doing was removing the "loopholes," as it were, that the Pharisees were adding to the law.

It seemed that as long as they hadn't actually murdered anyone, they were fine, irrespective of their heart condition. "I can't kill them, but I can hate them," they might have said, if only in their minds. It reminds me of something I've heard (and said), "I love them, but I don't like them."

Later on, in His discussion about oaths, Jesus confronts their notion that, as long as they swore by something other than God, they were fine to break that oath (cf. Matthew 5:33-37, 23:16-22).

It seems that the Pharisees had become quite adept at circumventing God's laws.

Nothing like any of us, right?

No, we would never take one part of Scripture over against another to justify our attitudes. Yeah, right.

How often do we use Jesus' use of harsh words and anger as an excuse to do the same, under the guise of "righteousness"?

Are we as concerned for the growth of our fellow believers as we are with being right? Sure, we ought to confront wrong teaching and heresy, but are we desiring the salvation of false teachers, or just their condemnation?

Jesus was pointing to the heart (Matthew 15:18-19), and we would do well to guard it (Proverbs 4:23).

Only when we have a heart right before God can we even begin to understand the correct place for righteous anger. And no matter how far along we think we are in this walk with Christ, we're still tainted by sinful attitudes. Should we have righteous indignation towards that which is evil and profanes the name of our holy God? Yes. But it is to be tempered with grace and love.

Maybe we should be as concerned with figuring out how we can grow in those last two traits as we sometimes are in finding loopholes for our sinful anger.