Anguish, Not Anger

By David A. Sargent       Warren W. Wiersbe once wrote about the entertainer and humorist, Will Rogers: “Will Rogers was known for his laughter, but he also knew how to weep. One day he was entertaining at the Milton H. Berry Institute in Los Angeles, a hospital that specialized in rehabilitating polio victims and people with broken backs and other extreme physical handicaps. Of course, Rogers had everybody laughing, even patients in really bad condition; but then he suddenly left the platform and went to the rest room. Milton Berry followed him to give him a towel; and when he opened the door, he saw Will Rogers leaning against the wall, sobbing like a child. He closed the door, and in a few minutes, Rogers appeared back on the platform, as jovial as before.”     Reflecting on the humor and compassion of Rogers, Wiersbe wrote: “If you want to learn what a person is really like, ask three questions: What makes him laugh? What makes him angry? What makes him weep? These are fairly good tests of character…     What we need today is not anger but anguish, the kind of anguish that Moses displayed when he broke the two tablets of the law and then climbed the mountain to intercede for his people, or that Jesus displayed when He cleansed the temple and then wept over the city. The difference between anger and anguish is a broken heart. It's easy to get angry, especially at somebody else's sins; but it's not easy to look at sin, our own included, and weep over it.” *     We all have reasons to experience anguish, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).  When our hearts are broken over our own sins (cf. Psalm 51:1-4), then this godly sorrow should lead us to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:9-10) and to the Savior (Matthew 11:28-30).     In anguish, Christ suffered and died on the cross for our sins. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24 ESV).  His anguish was an expression of His love for us: a love that was willing to suffer and die so that we can be saved and receive the gift of eternal life (Romans 5:6-10).     God will save and give eternal life to those who place their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).  He will continue to cleanse from sin those who continue to strive to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7-9).     Wiersbe is right: “What we need today is not anger but anguish”: anguish over sin the world, beginning with our own; anguish that will move us to bow in humble submission to the Savior; and anguish that will motivate us to share the Good News of Jesus to all of the broken people in the world.

- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile, Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled "Living Water." To learn more about this excellent resource contact David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org * Warren W. Wiersbe, The Integrity Crisis, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1991, pp. 75-76 as quoted in www.sermonillustrations.com.