Burn!

Don't people make you so mad sometimes?  That person ahead of you on the freeway; the vice principal at your child's school; your sister in-law?  Don't you just want to let them have it? Luke 9 recounts the time a Samaritan village rejected Jesus' ministry.  James and John, two of Jesus' disciples were so infuriated they said to Jesus (verse 54) "Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up?"  Sound familiar?  We want to rear-end the driver in front of us, we want to write a nasty letter to the vice-principal, we want to throw the gravy ladle at our sister in-law across the dinner table at Easter.

But these are not proper responses.  When the appropriately named Sons of Thunder (James and John) asked Jesus if they could "burn up" the people that were making them mad, verse 55 tells us that "...Jesus turned and rebuked them."  Why?  Because this type of righteous indignation is not our job.  We are not called to run around and burn up those who make us mad.  Instead we are called to treat others with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15) no matter how they treat us.  Philippians 4:5 says "Let your gentleness be evident to all."  Colossians 3:12 says "...clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience."

Who needs your gentleness today?  Out on the road, be patient with that "slow" driver (because you never make mistakes driving, huh?).  In your committee meeting, have compassion on the administrator that's making you crazy (imagine the tremendous pressure of running the school).  At the dinner table, be kind to that family member who doesn't deserve your kindness (you've never said anything mean, right?).

None of us need to worry about calling fire down from heaven to burn people up.  Instead, we need to focus on getting our own acts together...right?