INTEGRITY’S ANGUISH
In “The Integrity Crisis,” Warren Wiersbe pens the
following insights that powerfully resonate in our current cultural conditions. Prayerfully consider:
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, Will Rogers
had everybody laughing, even patients in really bad condition; but then he
suddenly left the platform and went into the rest room. Milton Berry followed him to give him a towel;
but when he opened the door, he saw Will Rogers leaning against the wall,
sobbing like a baby. He closed the door,
and in a few minutes, Rogers appeared back on the platform, as jovial as
before.
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 the wrath of man does not produce
the righteousness of God. (James 1:20)
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.
Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and
please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.
Maranatha!
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