Righteous Indignation
Righteous Indignation
I think it was around 7 or 8 years ago that I was witnessing downtown in Springfield, MO and I was pleading with unrepentant sinners to repent of their sins and turn to Christ and live. About that time, a young man walking away from me and across the street, turned around and made an obscene gesture and started gyrating like he was having sex and yelled, “This is my god!” To the day I die, I believe that it was truly righteous indignation that filled me at that moment. I fully believe this.
So, I stopped my message and replied to the young man that his god can’t save him. That he’s sowing the wind, but will reap the whirlwind and I kept going on quoting various Bible verses to him. But admittedly, my tone wasn’t the best. In fact, I was angry with the young man. I was filled with righteous indignation and I was sharing truth with him, but not in a Christ-like manner. You’ll never guess what happened next. My boss happened to drive by at that exact moment. He and his wife had eaten dinner at a downtown restaurant and they were driving down the street at the exact moment.
My Boss Only Saw My Reaction
On Monday, my boss told me that he saw me open-air preaching downtown Friday night. To which I replied, “Oh really.” He said yes, and boy you were really letting somebody have it. I told my boss what the young man said and did and my boss said he understood why it upset me. But he pointed out that he didn’t see or hear the young man. All he saw and heard was me yelling at the young man. I have to admit, it was a great lesson for me.
Yes, I was filled with righteous indignation over what the young man said and did. But my tone was not Christ-like at all. It was also a good lesson in the fact that others don’t always see the whole picture. They may only see part of it. Kind of like when a ref sees the second player retaliate during a game, but misses the first offender. Do I always respond with kindness and gentleness to mockers? Sadly, not always. But I do always pray that I won’t return evil for evil or reviling for reviling while I’m out street witnessing (1 Peter 3:9). Just sharing my experience with other evangelists so hopefully you won’t make the same mistake that I made.
