After a Samaritan village rudely refused to welcome them, James and John, two brothers with a reputation for temper anyway (Mk. 3:17), angrily responded by wanting God to destroy the entire town. Had God done so, a lot of innocent people would have died without a chance to hear the gospel. How frequently we give up on people by deciding they are hopelessly beyond God's power to save—forgetting how much persistent love it took for God to reach us. When He corrected His disciples, Jesus warned them that they were deceived by their angry emotions. Undoubtedly, they assumed they were motivated by wanting people to respect Jesus, but in truth their rage didn't come from God at all but was hateful revenge. Then He reminded them that God's heart was to save lost people, not speed their passage into hell.

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