By Billy Reinhardt

“It is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” (Proverbs 19:11b-NIV)

I want to form this devotional around a list of questions and thoughts concerning the concept of “Righteous Anger/Righteous Indignation.” Meditate upon these questions and see which ones apply to you.

1. Why do we think that we can be angry in a “righteous-kind-of-way” just like Jesus was when He overturned the tables of the money changers, and drove them out with a whip (John 2:13-17), instead of thinking we are wrong with the anger we express?

2. Do we really believe that, in this life, we can be angry, and then act on that anger, without it being an anger that has sin motivated by it?

3. Why do we seem to want to practice “righteous indignation/anger” (which is never commanded for us to do in the Bible), rather than practice getting rid of our anger, malice, and slander (per Ephesians 4:31), which is what the Bbile does prescribe for us to do?

4. Where does Jesus say that we are entitled (have a right) to get angry at anyone who offends us personally?

5. Does it speak more powerfully to someone to choose to love someone with whom we disagree (and who also knows that we disagree with them), rather than choosing not to love them and to remain offended?

6. Is it more Christian (more like Jesus) to show offense and anger at what someone does, or is it more Christian (more like Jesus) to show someone love

and kindness (even if it is over a matter with which we disagree or are offended by)?

7. If so-called “cancel-culture” were not a thing, would Christians show less offense and more love towards others who are in the wrong?

8. I believe that, especially with so-called “hot button issues,” people expect us to get mad and offended, but what if we chose to do the opposite and show kindness, love, and acceptance instead? If we get angry at someone for doing something that offends us (and if they did it simply to show us offense and to make us mad), then don’t we confirm their errant assumptions about us whenever we do get angry instead of showing patience, kindness, and love?

9. Whenever we see someone who is doing something that offends us, do we see someone who needs rebuked and criticized, hated and scorned, or do we see someone who needs love and who needs to be shown they are valued by God? In other words, what TYPE of person do we see when we see someone who offends us?

10. Besides the moneychangers-narrative mentioned above (from John 2), where else does Jesus show such “offended” behavior that we would expect Him to storm off in anger, or protest loudly at “such a wretched sinner” (Pharisees aside!), as we think we should do?

Thought 1: Being this kind to someone and choosing to not being offended isn’t as “flashy” as being publicly offended, but it is more risky and bolder to show this type of kindness than to be offended since “offense is the flavor of the day,” it seems, and common courtesy and love is sorely lacking (especially God’s love).

Thought 2: Jesus was often criticized because He loved people others thought He was “not supposed to love” (woman caught in adultery, woman at the well, woman who broke perfume over Him, etc.). But Jesus Himself risked being misunderstood by others by the way He loved “the unlovable” because He saw loving others as a greater virtue than being offended by them. The Pharisees were the ones most offended by Jesus because of His love and kindness shown to others. If anything, if we are offended, we probably look more like the religious hypocrites (the Pharisees) than we do Jesus Christ, who showed radical love to those who did not deserve it.

11. When is the last time you remembered, acutely, that God has shown you great kindness and has shown you love, which is vastly undeserved and unmerited?

*Billy Reinhardt is the pastor of Riverside Heights Baptist church in Tallassee. He and his wife Jessica have four children. He blogs at www.billyreinhardt.com where he writes articles on matters of faith, family, and culture.