Put Them Aside

              But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Colossians 3:8) 

There, but for the grace of God, go I. (attributed to John Bradford) 

            But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, … (Matthew 23:13,14, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29)And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. (Matthew 21:12) 

Some people will tell you that if you raise your voice or speak tones that aren’t “sweetness and light” that you’re a bad Christian. Other people justify their anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech based on Jesus’ rebukes of the pharisees and His clearing the temple. How do we balance verses like Colossians 3:8 with what we see Jesus do in the Gospels?

The first step is to examine the Gospels. There are instances in which Jesus speaks sharply and takes what might be called “drastic action.” But they are not moment-by-moment realities for Him. There is no indication that any of them guided or controlled His life.

Having used anger as a source of energy and focus for years, I assure you that anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech are great tools. You feel alive, awake, in control, powerful, and superior. In other words, you feel “like the Most High.” There are, of course, three problems. The first is that you aren’t the Most High and trying to usurp His position involves separating you from Him. The second is that they tend to separate you from people.  The third is that they are like a drug, both addictive and poisonous to the body. This means that in a very real sense, those things we’re supposed to put aside are evidence of hatred of God, other people, and yourself.

There’s another thing about the list. Anger and wrath are internal, emotional things. Malice is the intent to do evil. It’s still internal, but the will has joined in. Slander and abusive speech are the actions that result from anger, wrath, and malice. So while there are justifiable reasons for anger, the key is to stop the process at anger and not continue down the trail.

One other lesson from Jesus driving the merchants from the temple. He’s God. He could have caused the people in the Temple to die in agony. He could have destroyed the temple. What He did was probably the minimum level of action needed to accomplish his goal. There was no mistaking that He was zealous for the temple, but I suspect if one of the merchants came to Him later that day, Jesus would have forgiven and accepted him. What we see in Scripture is that anger, and the things that flow from it, weren’t the fuel on which Jesus operated and were not the norm for Him. He was able to put it aside.