Can Anger and Compassion Coexist?

The answer to this question is an emphatic “yes.”

What and who you are angry with and who you have compassion for are the bottom line. We can be “…angry, and sin not…” (Ephesians 4:26 KJV). Part of the love walk includes knowing when and who to be angry at, and when and for whom to show compassion.

Anger is to be shown toward Satan and his works. Jesus became angry toward the turning of the temple into a business selling sacrificial animals. He threw out the moneychangers and beat with a whip those making money. Jesus spent an entire chapter dealing with the teachings and religious hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. He said they “…devour widow’s houses…” (vs.14), “…you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (vs.15). He called them ‘“whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (vs.27). It is obvious Jesus hated the teaching and practice of lies lived by the Pharisees, yet He went two days later to the cross and died for them. He also died for the false teachers we have today (2 Peter 2:1).

Jesus hated the teaching and practice of sin, but He loved the people who were teaching and committing the sin, enough to die for them. Jesus went everywhere healing “…all who were oppressed by the devil…” (Acts 10:38). He apparently hated the works of Satan but loved the people caught in them. God was so pleased with Jesus and His finished work on earth that He commended Jesus before He sat down at His right hand, saying, “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness” (Hebrews 1:9).

We see this in society among those in the medical field. We love healing and hate disease. Healing is our friend, and sickness is an enemy. We treat breast cancer, heart disease, and diabetes as enemies and seek to conquer them. We want to make them history like many other diseases we have seen abolished by the medical profession through the years. Love and compassion toward people should be the driving force for us to rid them of the sin, sickness, and works of the devil we hate.

How often do we use our spiritual weapons against each other? They were meant to be used against Satan. We do not have authority over people but over demons and the works of Satan. Our God-given gifts and authority are not spiritual witchcraft to get people to do what we want them to do. Even God cannot make people get saved or force them to serve Him. Compassion is used to meet people’s needs, so they will want to serve this God of grace and mercy.

Compassion Drove the Ministry of Jesus

When Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion toward them, and healed their sick (Matthew 14:14).

Like Jesus, our compassion for people is what should back our God given-authority over Satan and his works. How Jesus looks at both sickness and people should be how we also look at them. Jesus called a woman He healed in the temple a “daughter of Abraham,” but of her sickness, He said, “…Satan has bound…” her (Luke 13:16). Compassion loves people and seeks to rid them of the works of Satan that bind them.

Compassion Drives the Grace of God

The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psalm 145:8-9).

Whether it is the forgiveness of sins, meeting our spiritual and temporal needs, or healing our diseases, God’s compassion and His great mercies are behind all His works. To have compassion is to love abundantly, show mercy, and greatly desire to help someone else. Compassion is a good synonym for grace. It looks to receive back nothing but to bless the one who is in need only. It is not given “grudgingly or of necessity” (2 Corinthians 9:7) but only to rejoice in the finished deed of blessing another. Compassion is the reason behind God’s grace.

Compassion is not what God can do, but what He earnestly desires to do. Jesus immediately answered the leper who asked if He was willing to heal him with “I will!” Eager compassion answers “Yes!” even before the question “Will you?” leaves the mouth. In fact, God’s compassion helps us to understand why every need we can have has already been planned for and met from before the foundation of the world. And God is continually searching for an opportunity to forgive, bless, and heal anyone who will call on Him.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9 KJV).

Our Lord “delights in mercy” (Micah 7:18).

The “mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting” (Psalm 103:17).

There is no God in heaven or on earth like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts (2 Chronicles 6:14).

Mercy Is the Cry of Our Hearts

God responds to a cry for mercy and then acts in mercy, grace for grace. Two blind men sat beside the road and heard Jesus was close by. They both cried out, “Have mercy on us.” Jesus heard them and “had compassion on them and touched their eyes. And immediately their eyes received sight…” (Matthew 20:29-34).

Seeking God’s grace is what brings us the answers we have been looking for all along. Forgiveness of sins does not come because we approach God with our religious works and kind deeds to others. Remission comes when we reach out with our faith to receive what God only can supply. So it is with the healing of our disease. God does not heal us because of our good works or pleasing personality. He heals us when we reach out in faith to receive the finished work of healing Jesus accomplished on the cross. “…Daughter, your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34).

What Can I Do for You?

The religious men of Jesus’ day put great stipulations on forgiveness of sins and healing of diseases. Much argument was made against Jesus for forgiving sin or healing people on the Sabbath. The fact that Jesus healed Gentiles, forgave adultery, and declared a man’s sins to be forgiven, brought wrath from the religious crowd. Jesus finally shut the mouths of the legalistic Pharisees by asking, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Arise and walk’”? (Matthew 9:5). For Jesus one was as easy as the other. For the religious crowd, both were impossible.

Religion seeks people without needs and asks, “What can you do for me?” Jesus continually sought out the needy and asked, “What can I do for you?” This is the voice of compassion and mercy. This is the voice of grace. “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Matthew 9:13).

We could add to this verse “and the sick to be healed.” Jesus is not looking for our good deeds, lists of accomplishments, and praise from others we have helped. He is looking for sinners who will admit they have sinned and the sick to admit they are sick. Jesus is looking for those who are looking for the grace of God in forgiveness and in healing.

Why don’t you just become honest with God and cry out for His mercy. Have you committed sins? He is faithful and just to forgive you if you will just confess the sin and admit you have failed. Are you in need of healing? Cry out to God for Him to have mercy on you. A cry for mercy will be met with mercy. You cannot heal yourself any more than you can save yourself or forgive you own sins. Trust God, and He will abundantly pardon and completely heal.