Have you ever been angry? I am sure you have, but have you been angry to the point where you feel nothing but hate for that thing, that situation, that person?
I have. Jesus is quite clear about what he thinks about hate, but let me talk a bit more about what is going on, before I dive into Jesus perspective on it.
A world of horrors
It’s not hard to see that there are horrible things happening all over the world. Suicide bombers are killing innocents, countries and factions war with each other, human beings are still being trafficked and put into slavery. Children are being neglected by drug addicted parents, husbands are murdering wives in the ever-escalating problem with domestic violence, families destroyed because of divorce and innocent children are being sexually abused by adults.
Turn on the TV, surf the internet, listen to the radio, listen to a conversation. You will watch, read and hear about all the above atrocities and more. Many times, I have felt overwhelmed by the sadness, the despair of what happens in our world and communities. I remember a few years back sitting in the car park after at work, sobbing after I heard a presentation by the awesome folks at Destiny Rescue, an organisation whose whole existence is about saving young children from the sex trade.
My thoughts were, thank the Lord, that an organisation like this exists, but my follow up thoughts were a lot darker. Why the hell does an organisation like this even have to exist, what corrupt, disgusting, hateful individuals would even take a child to bed? The anger started to grow, and soon… the hate started to simmer.
Parenthood changed everything
One of the greatest moments in my life, was when my little girl was born. I love being a dad, it has become my passion and my mission, but the love that continues to grow in me for my three children, the deeper the sorrow and despair I feel for the young innocents trapped in a cycle of pain and suffering. The anger continues to intensify, the hate…. starts to boil.
Anger can be good
Let me set the record straight, anger is not a sin, even God feels anger. He feels anger at the injustice of the world, the suffering we humans we inflict upon each other, and we who are created in the image of God should feel righteous anger! This righteous anger helps us to correct the wrongs of this world, by seeking justice, helping people and nations see the error of their ways and work in partnership toward a bright and cohesive future, where we can hopefully mitigate or even eradicate the things that bring us so much, pain, sorrow and anger.
How we choose to use our anger is important. All too often, however; we want to get revenge, we want to make the people that cause all this pain and sorrow, suffer, never giving them a second chance, only payback. The world unfortunately continues to suffer because of this and it will continue to get worse.
A rebuke and a challenge
The anger I felt inside erupted recently. The hate turned into a torrent. A story of a young girl who had been sexually abused by her biological father for the majority of her life was too much for me to take. I cried out to God, “Lord may this man receive his punishment on earth and in eternity, Lord may this man suffer horrible things while in prison, Lord may this man never have the chance of redemption and salvation and may he spend all eternity in hell”. I stewed on it all night, anger increasing the more I thought about it. This story robbed me of my peace and joy that day and once hearing it, all I wanted to do is hold by kids and protect them.
The following morning, I began to pray about the situation again and the Lord spoke to me so softly, with so much love but also a rebuke. “Jarred, all people are valuable, all people deserve a second chance, when you condemn this man, you have condemned yourself.” Immediately I remembered Jesus words from scripture, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone”.
I was reminded that Jesus’ view of hate was the precursor to murder and that in fact if you have hate in your heart, you are a murder. So high are God’s standard of morality for us that our sinful actions always start from the heart. I am glad Jesus died for my sins.
I met a friend shortly for prayer after that, still struggling to reconcile everything I was feeling. I spoke about the situation, but not how I felt. His prayer immediately was,“Lord change this man’s heart, help him realise the suffering he has caused, Lord may he change his ways and turn to you, but may he pay the full price for this sin here on earth”.
I was absolutely floored, in that moment I was humbled, brought low and challenged. My prayer the night before was about revenge, but here this Godly man that I am so blessed to know, was about grace and forgiveness.
All humans are valuable and loved by God, regardless of their background, beliefs or what sin they have committed. It is his desire to see all come to know him and turn from their sinful lives, to be made whole, to be made new, to be redeemed.
Jarred is an HPE and Mathematics teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, he is married to Haley and has three beautiful children Chelsea, Nathan and Ryan.