I love Jesus, but I’m not mad about it. Not at you, or anyone else. Come to think ofit, I’m not even mad about something.

You’ve seen the clips on sites like YouTube…right? The ones where some preacher gets all worked up about someone else’s theology and launches into an angry tirade about how they’ve got it all wrong, while proceeding to label them as heretics of the first degree?

What I love is how they explain away their anger. Usually it’s by setting themselves up as THE Defender Of The True Faith, the only one (although there seem to be plenty of them out there) willing to display “righteous anger” over the “apostate preachers” who are “tickling the ears of the deceived.”

Give me a break. Personally, I think these guys have an anger problem they’ve never dealt with, one they’ve carried with them into ministry

First of all, it makes me wonder if  they’ve read the entire Bible. You do remember Jesus telling the parable of the wheat and tares, don’t you? The one where He specifically warned against any attempt to try and sort it all out using only our own limited wisdom? As I recall, He said something along the lines of “allow the tares to grow with the wheat until the harvest, lest you uproot the wheat while trying to get rid of the tares.”

But even if you choose to ignore those words there’s another, much larger issue at work. Since when did we get the idea that our anger was ever a passable substitute for God’s?

The Scripture is full of references to “the anger of the Lord.” Nowhere, though, does it call on us to stand in for Him. In fact, at that point the Bible is profoundly clear: “F or the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20) Masking personal anger as righteous anger is not only a misrepresentation of Scripture, but an abuse of the very people we’re called to shepherd.

And please – don’t give me the “I love you so much I’m willing to say things that hurt” line. Switching the label on something and calling it what it’s not doesn’t change the true nature of what it is. I rather suspect that, if you muted the audio on those clips and asked an impartial group if they thought the guy in the video was angry, you’d get an affirmative answer 100% of the time.

So what do you do, if you’re angry at someone, or about something? If “being mad” is holding you back from your dream of making a difference, maybe it’s time to consider the following:

• Admit it. As Rick Warren loves to say, “revealing the feeling is the beginning of healing.”You’re not going to get anywhere by simply stuffing your anger inside. That, as you well know, is a classic definition of depression. Find a close friend or counselor, and begin the process of identifying the root cause of your anger. Often the simple process of talking about it can be one of the most helpful things you can do.

• Don’t take responsibility for the actions of others. Most of the time you’ll get mad because of other people – what they say , what they do, what they refuse to do. Let it go.Don’t let people get–or take–the best of you.You are not responsible for their behavior, or what they choose to do with their life. As difficult as it is for us to accept – and trust me, I’ve had my own struggle with this – they’re sometimes going to take your input and advice, and then do the complete opposite of what you’ve recommended. Release it. Pray for them, continue to be available to them, but don’t allow their actions to stir up anger inside of you. It’s not worth it.

• Keep the main thing the main thing. If the Lord Himself came “to seek and to save that which is lost,” we would be well-advised to keep our focus there as well. I’m always amazed by how easily we get sidetracked, giving priority to issues that don’t really matter much in the eternal scope of things. One way to counteract that tendency is to work hard at building relationships with those who are unchurched. I’m always on the lookout for a lost person, someone I can build a relationship with and reach out to. It’s one sure way to keep me grounded – after all, why should I be angry if a lost person acts like a lost person?

By my way of thinking, there are enough people out there with microphones who are angry all the time, preying on the fears in people’s hearts. Those of us with pulpits should stand out by contrast. When people hear us speak they should walk away knowing – no matter how impassioned we might get – that we’re not mad about it.

Just think how refreshing that would be!