Anger or Anguish?

My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God's sight. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the message God has planted in your hearts, for it is strong enough to save your souls. And remember, it is a message to obey, not just to listen to. If you don't obey, you are only fooling yourself. For if you just listen and don't obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror but doing nothing to improve your appearance. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law – the law that sets you free – and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don't control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. (James 1:19-26 NLV).

It has been said that 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 that are especially appropriate for Christian leaders. I hear people saying, “We need angry leaders today!” or “The time has come to practice militant Christianity!” Perhaps, but James reminds us that “the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

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. I have found that it is very easy for me to laugh and, of course, it is altogether too easy to get angry. However, the greatest challenge for me is to learn the true humility of anguish.

It was a tragic mistake. On July 3, 1988, the navy cruiser USS Vincennes shot down an Iranian airliner with 290 aboard. All were lost. The ship's captain mistakenly thought they were under attack by an F-14 Iranian fighter. Public opinion polls showed that most Americans opposed paying compensation to the victims' families. The cruel treatment of American hostages in Iran was still fresh in many minds. But President Reagan approved compensation. Asked by reporters if such payment would send the wrong signal, he replied, "I don't ever find compassion a bad precedent." To many people, the principle of revenge is so much simpler to practice. Yet compassion is Christ's way -- a deep caring for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the whole person. It reveals the heart of God for sinful people -- for you and for me. Abraham Lincoln said, “I am sorry for the man who can't feel the whip when it is laid on the other man's back.” What makes you weep today?