Angry Devo: Session 1 Ticked Off
Angry Devotional: Session 1: Ticked Off
The Me Factor
by Josh Steffens
Read Mark 11:15-19
Here we have a place of worship, the temple, and Jesus enters to find them using church as a place of business. They were buying and selling animals, particularly doves, for sacrifices. More had to be going on here because he says, "'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” He staright up calls them theives so we can only assume that they were selling and buying for profit.
Jesus uses His righteous anger for something useful. He was angered at what he saw and began overthrowing the tables which they were working on. He was not affected personally by what they were doing but turned his passions against them.
We have been conditioned to use our anger at things that affect us personally. Our culture teaches us and trains us to be me focused. If somebody offends us, we get angry. If we don't get our way, we become angry. If something we value breaks or ceases to function, we become angry. If our family is hurting or sick, we become angry. We are me focused while unaffected by tragedy and injustice in the world. It is because we have been conditioned to think this way. But like eveything else Jesus did, he came to turn our way of thinking upside down.
Jesus was God focused. Kingdom focused. Prayer focused. He was so selfless in fact that he died a horrific death on a cross for other people. So when he saw this problem in the place set aside for prayer and worship, he became angry. Yet when he was accused of all kinds of things he never did, he stayed silent. When he was ridiculed and beaten, he remained silent. When he was tormented and humiliated, he remained silent. He had more reasons than we will ever know to be angry, and he chose not to. Thats upside down thinking.
Jesus was engaged in real issues which gave him perspective on his current situation. He was engaing in an issue called sin, and he knew he was here to destroy the power of sin once and for all. That is why he had a perspective on his current situation that he didn't feel the need to be angry over.
When we engage in real issues, it gives us perspective. It takes us from a me focused way of thinking to a God focused way of thinking.
