“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it.” Mark 8:35 (NLT) 

Yesterday we talked about two ways to develop a heart like Jesus. Today we’re going to look at two more ways.  

If you want to have a heart like Jesus—this next one might shock you. Not only do you have to care about what Jesus cares about and be indifferent to what Jesus is indifferent to, you must get angry about what Jesus gets angry about.  

You may think anger is a sin. The wrong kind of anger is sinful but there’s good anger and bad anger. There’s righteous anger and there’s unrighteous anger. Unrighteous anger is selfish, self-centered anger—the kind you feel when someone hurts you, frustrates you, or makes you afraid.

But righteous anger comes from a place of love. When you see people suffering while others have far more than they need, you ought to get angry about that. When you see injustice, poverty, and prejudice, you ought to get angry about that. 

In fact, the Bible makes this point in Ephesians 4:26. It says, “Be angry without sinning” (GW).  

Jesus got angry when children’s needs weren’t being met. In The Message paraphrase, he said, “Don’t push these children away. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom” (Mark 10:13-14). 

Jesus also got angry when human suffering—especially of the poor or vulnerable—was ignored. He said, “Woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them” (Luke 11:46 NIV). God is love—but he is also just. And when he sees injustice in the world, he gets angry—and so should you. 

Lastly, follow Jesus’ example of sacrifice. He said it very clearly: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NIV).  

Here’s the amazing thing: If you make the switch from living for yourself, to sacrificing for Jesus and his purposes, your happiness will go off the charts. Why? Because God wired us in a way that as we become more like him—generous and unselfish—the happier we get. It’s as simple as this: If you live for yourself, you’ll be miserable. If you give your life away, you’ll be happy. 

Jesus spent his time on earth helping people get right with God and right with each other. That’s worth making sacrifices for. 

God wants you to develop a heart like his. And as you do, you’ll find real life: “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it” (Mark 8:35 NLT).