Have you ever experienced anguish? Are we as Christians even supposed to feel anguish after we are born again? I remember watching the news one evening when I saw footage from a shoot out in Israel. The images showed a father and son caught in the cross fire on some street. I could not tell who was Israeli or Palestinian. I could only see a father trying to cover his son with his own body from the spray of machine gun fire. The cameras showed the father and son a short time later. The father sat dejected sitting on the side of the street. His son lied dead next to him. He was not even involved in the altercation, willing to give his life, but yet unable to protect his son. Being a father myself, I was struck with emotion. I could not even believe they showed such a thing on television. I was angry and full of sorrow for the man who lost his son.
In Mark chapter three, we see Jesus experience anger and sadness at the same time. The Pharisees sat there with indignation to see if Jesus would heal the man with the withered hand. They did not care about this guy who had suffered his whole life, only if Jesus was going to break the rules. Jesus looked around “on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts.” He was mad and sad. Paul shared this same pain, “I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.”
Aren’t Christians supposed to be happy? Shouldn’t we have our best life now? Doesn’t God want to make us feel good by showering blessings from Heaven? Aren’t we King’s Kids? What could these two guys be so upset about? Could it be that they actually cared for the lost, dying and hurting?
Abraham Bininger was a man who understood the pain of Hell. He came to America an orphan as his parents both died on the long sea voyage and were buried at sea. When he became a young man, he asked to be sent to St. Thomas Island to bring the message of the cross to the slaves. When he arrived, he learned that the law said only slaves could preach to slaves. He sent a request to the governor to become a slave that he might have but the opportunity to share Jesus with common slaves. What kind of person does this? It was not like he had an easy life. He was orphaned! He had hardships. He was due his chance to have a good life. Should not God have rewarded him for his suffering and give him a nice church in the suburbs? No, he wanted to preach to slaves and so much, he was willing to sell himself literally for the task. He was not blinded by his passion, but it is we that are blinded by our apathy. Only a person who can see beyond the temporal into the eternal can even think of doing such a thing.
Do you believe in Hell? Every good American Christian (maybe) will say yes, it is in our statement of faith. We believe Noah build an Ark, Moses talked to a bush and there is a place called Hell. But do you really believe that? Do you believe if your relatives are not born again, they will spend eternity in torment? When you see the clerk, do you weep for their soul because they are going to Hell?
If you are a Christian and you are not broken for the lost, then there can only be one of two possibilities. Either you don’t believe in Hell or you don’t care if people go there. Hell is a place of “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” It is eternal pain and sorrow! We act like it is a joke or a time out. People who have not received the forgiveness of their sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and been born again are going to that awful place. How can we not care? I beg you, ask Jesus to forgive you for your cold heart as I have. Go before His presence with humility and fasting and repent. Ask Him to impart His heart for the lost. It will hurt. You may find yourself crying when you look into the eyes of a stranger as you feel God’s pain for their soul. Don’t run from the cross, run to it. Allow His anguish to have place in your heart for this lost and dying world.
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