Robert D. Jones > Quotes

“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favour to them in life, through death, and on for ever.”
― Robert D. Jones, Pursuing Peace: A Christian Guide to Handling Our Conflicts

“James diagnoses the problem in amazingly simple yet profound terms: you get angry when you don’t get what you want.”
― Robert D. Jones, Anger: Calming Your Heart

“Righteous anger remains self-controlled. It keeps its head without cursing, screaming, raging, or flying off the handle. Nor does it spiral downward in self-pity or despair. It does not ignore people, snub people, or withdraw from people. Instead, righteous anger carries with it the twin qualities of confidence and self-control. Christlike anger is not all-consuming and myopic but channeled to sober, earnest ends. Godly strains of mourning, comfort, joy, praise, and action balance it.”
― Robert D. Jones, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem

“It reacted against actual sin (criterion #1). It focused on God and his kingdom, rights, and concerns more than his own. And it arose not because people had sinned against him but because they had sinned against his Father and against other people (criterion #2). Furthermore, other godly qualities and expressions accompanied it. Jesus was not cold, stoic, and uncaring about God’s honor and other people’s welfare. Nor did he throw fits or withdraw. He ministered to people (criterion #3).”
― Robert D. Jones, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem

“Righteous anger does not result from merely being inconvenienced or from violations of personal preference or human tradition. It responds to sin as objectively defined by God’s Word, including violations of both of our Lord’s great commandments (Matt. 22:36–40). 2. Righteous Anger Focuses on God and His Kingdom, Rights, and Concerns, Not on Me and My Kingdom, Rights, and Concerns”
― Robert D. Jones, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem

“We must humble ourselves before God. The repetition of “humble” in the beginning and end forms a literary inclusio—a pair of bookends—that brackets this section. We must forsake the “my rights, my kingdom, my will” type of pride that spawns anger.”
― Robert D. Jones, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem

“David Powlison asks seven questions to help someone assess whether his or her anger is righteous:2 (1) Do you get angry about the right things? (2) Do you express your anger in the right way? (3) How long does your anger last? (4) How controlled is your anger? (5) What motivates your anger? (6) Is your anger “primed and ready” to respond to another person’s habitual sins? (7) What is the effect of your anger?”
― Robert D. Jones, Uprooting Anger: Biblical Help for a Common Problem