Angry Words & Wrong Reasons

“Over here, Jeremy!” Justin shouted and waved his hands, trying to get Jeremy’s attention. But Jeremy whipped right past Justin with the ball and kicked it—whoosh— right into the net! Everyone cheered, “Yay! Woohoo! Way to go, Jeremy!”

As Jeremy’s teammates clamored around him and patted him on the back, Justin watched from a distance, thinking, “That goal should have been mine.” The more Justin thought about it, the angrier he felt. Finally, he turned and stomped off the field, feeling sorry for himself.

Soon Justin heard Jeremy calling, “Justin! Great game, today.”

Justin turned to Jeremy. “Yeah, I guess,” he replied. “But next time, why don’t you give someone else a chance to score?”

Jeremy was stunned. He stood there looking confused, holding the soccer ball as Justin walked away. “What was that all about?” he wondered.

The next day was Sunday. Justin woke up still feeling angry. He didn’t usually feel this way about his friends, and he wasn’t sure it was right. But when Mrs. Jacobs told his Sunday school class that Jesus got angry, too, Justin thought, “It must be okay to get angry, since Jesus did.”

Later that afternoon, Jessie came to play. “Mom made cookies,” Justin said excitedly. “We can eat them up in the fort.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jessie replied, smiling.

The kids climbed up the ladder into Justin’s fort. They brought the cookies and cups of cold milk up on a little tray by pulling a rope. “Hey, that’s cool!” said Jessie. “It’s like a mini elevator.”

Justin set the cookies and cups down on the floor. The kids munched on their cookies as they chatted. “These are so good,” said Jessie, grabbing another cookie from the plate.

“I know,” said Justin. “They’re my all-time favorite cookie. I could eat the whole plate of ’em!” Justin grinned and reached for another one. But to his surprise, the plate was empty. “Hey! Where’d they go?” Justin glanced at Jessie who was sipping her milk. In her hand she held the last cookie with a giant bite taken out of it.

Justin frowned. “Why’d you take the last one? That one should’ve been mine.”

Jessie looked down at the empty plate. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “They were so delicious! I didn’t think about how many there were.”

“Well, what about me?” asked Justin angrily. “I wanted some more, too.”

Justin stayed in the fort. He was angry at Jessie for taking the last cookie. After all, he only had three, and he wanted another one.

He did feel kinda bad that he made Jessie cry. Justin shrugged. “Jesus got angry,” he told himself, “so it’s okay if I get angry, too.”

After a while, Justin went down to the yard and climbed into the sandbox to build a sandcastle. Soon he had three towers on his castle and was busy building a fourth tower when he heard Ellie, his little sister. “Hi, Jussin! I gonna pway, too.”

Ellie stepped into the sandbox. Justin looked up just in time to see his sister trip and stumble. “Ahh!” Ellie squealed as she toppled forward, landing right on top of Justin’s castle—squoosh!

Ellie pushed herself up. The front of her shirt was all messy. There was sand everywhere! “Look what you did, Ellie!” Justin shouted angrily. Ellie began to cry.

It wasn’t long before Justin’s mom came outside. “What is going on?”

“Ellie destroyed my sandcastle,” Justin replied with a grumpy look.

Mom lifted Ellie out of the sandbox and began wiping the sand off of her. “What is wrong with you, Justin?” she asked her son.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean,” Mom replied, “I’ve heard that you’ve been getting angry at your friends, and now at Ellie. And it needs to stop.”

“But I thought it was okay to get angry,” Justin replied. “We learned in Sunday school that Jesus got angry.”

Mom sat down on the grass beside Justin. “That’s true, but Jesus got angry for the right reasons. What are your reasons?”

Justin thought about why he had gotten angry. “Well, Jeremy wouldn’t pass the ball to me. But I guess I just wanted to feel proud of myself by making a goal.”

“I see,” said Mom. “What about Jessie?”

“I just wanted more cookies for myself,” Justin explained sadly.

“Not a very good reason to hurt your friend’s feelings, was it?” Mom asked.

Justin looked at Ellie, still trying to wipe sticky sand from her clothes. “I guess Ellie just wanted to play in the sandbox with me. But I got mad ’cause my castle got busted. That’s not a good reason, is it?”

“Nope,” said Mom. “God doesn’t want us to be angry when we’re just thinking of ourselves and what we want. We need to save our anger, like Jesus did, for times when God is being dishonored.”

“I sure didn’t have the same reasons as Jesus,” said Justin. He stood up and pulled Ellie close for a hug. “I’m sorry, Ellie.” Then he raced toward the gate.

“Where are you going?” asked Mom.

“I have to go tell Jessie and Jeremy I’m sorry. Then I’ll help Ellie build a new sandcastle when I get back.”

“You do that.” Mom waved Justin on. “Sounds like a good plan.”

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