Matt Clarke's Morning Messages

The Greater Impact

Written by Matt Clarke | July 24, 2025

I would be a little ticked also. Most of us would be. If someone walked into your office today and started flipping desks over, smashing computers on the ground, tearing up accounting records, and putting you out of business, what would you do? I know I would come out swinging and do whatever I could to get rid of them. I would be angry for sure. But...

What if what you were doing was wrong? What if you were in the business of taking advantage of people, stealing from them, or causing them harm? Would it not be the next right thing to do what it took to shut you down? Would it not be just as bad to stand around in a cloak of apathy and do nothing? If it were you or a loved one who was being harmed or taken advantage of, would you be angry?

When Jesus stormed the temple and drove out the crooked merchants and bankers, and threw shade at the hypocritical leaders that were there, he was hot and knew something had to be done, so He did it. When the dust settled and all the business and religious leaders gathered themselves, they were angry, took action, and didn't stop until they had Jesus killed.   

Both were angry, but one was right.  

"Understanding this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves." (James 1:19-22)

 

It's okay to get angry. In fact, there are a lot of things we should get angry about: lying, cheating, child abuse, human trafficking, rape, spousal abuse, murder, stealing, etc. Conversely, there are even more things we shouldn't be angry about. Not getting what you want, being called out when you are wrong, someone disagreeing with you, traffic, spam, etc. You have to decide where the line gets drawn. Acting out of human anger leads to harm; acting out of Godly anger leads to transformative good. The key part in the above scripture is action. If you are angry, check yourself and make sure it's not your pride but something God would agree with, then you must take action. Feelings are irrelevant without action. 

Tim Keller said, "Anger is love in motion to protect what you love most." 

What do you love most? You? Your stuff? Your ego? Your desires?  

The crooked teachers and merchants loved their personal influence, power, and wealth the most, so they got angry, took action, and killed Jesus. Jesus, on the other hand, loved you. And took action to protect you. Who had the greater impact?

Be angry about the right things and don't just stand around talking about it; go do something.