Rage War
Rage is everywhere. In fact, in today's world, rage is often seen as justified or even necessary. All you have to do is turn on your “trusted” news source or open your curated social media feed or even incline your ear to church friends and spiritual leaders and you will hear the language: “Fight back . . . rise up . . . be outraged!”
Raging has become glorified. Rage has, ironically, become all the rage. It is also a snare that robs you of your power and enslaves you to a mission that is not yours.
To be sure, there is much in our world that warrants outrage. Greed, exploitation, perversion, and all manner of other evil abound. It can all be summed up in a word: sin. Sin is rampant in our world, and we serve a God who abhors sin. It is even fair to say that God rages against sin: “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Rom. 1:18).
It against this backdrop that countless voices implore you: “Evil is everywhere, so you should be full of rage!”
It seems correct. If God rages against sin, and sin abounds around you, then you also should rage! There are two fundamental problems with this conclusion: 1) You are not God, and 2) God’s Word repeatedly instructs you to guard against anger.
Colossians 3:8 says to “rid yourself” of “anger [and] rage.”
James 1:19-20 says to be “slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”
Ephesians 4:26-27 acknowledges you will be angry but clearly instructs, “In your anger do not sin. . . do not give the devil a foothold.”
So why is so much of what you hear from what should be trustworthy voices a message that encourages rage? Why does there seem to be a perpetual outrage industry seeking to agitate you into a state of anger?
The answer is uncomfortable but necessary to grasp: The outrage industry rages on because it is the easiest way to activate and enslave you to its purposes.
Pay attention. The next time (and it will probably be in the next few minutes) one of your trusted sources of information tells you to be angry, ask “why?” Is it because they are profiting or benefitting from your attention? The answer will almost always be yes. Fear and anger are two of the easiest ways to captivate and activate toward an intended goal.
Don’t be enslaved to another’s mission. Don’t let the rage flavor of the moment carry you away for a mission that is less than heaven. When the things (and the sin) of this world make you angry, avoid sin by understanding the game and declining to play it. Your mission is far grander and far longer lasting than the ones that invite your rage for the moment.
You are certainly called to stand against evil (Eph. 6:13). But you don’t fight as the world does using the rage weapons of this world (2 Cor. 10: 3-4). You are called to a peace amid the storm, a peace from God that “transcends all understanding, [and] will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philip. 4:7).
The rage war is everywhere. But it is not yours to wage. It is peace that guards you.