A couple of months ago, for the first time ever, I became a meme. Not the kind that goes viral across social media, but one a friend of mine created and shared with me and a few of our friends. I wasn’t sure whether to be honored or peeved. Regardless, it was hysterical. Everyone who saw it burst out laughing, myself included. I still look at it today and can’t help but chuckle. The ironic thing, however, is that the moment it captured was not funny at all; it was pretty serious.

This meme creation came from an event for A Woman’s Choice when we had a speaker come to share critical information about the history and future of the abortion movement, focusing specifically on the abortion pill. That’s heavy stuff, hardly funny. The picture of me was taken when I was addressing the audience after our speaker’s presentation. I was sharing some comments in response to what we had just learned, and truly the only response one could have was anger. So that was what I was saying in that moment–“We need to get angry!”

The picture that was painted by our speaker that night revealed the dark and sinister nature of the abortion industry. We heard facts and statistics about the nefarious agenda that has pushed abortion forward from decades past and to the present. We learned of the deceptive practices and underhanded strategies that have been used to advance that agenda. Worst of all, we got a glimpse of the future of abortion in our nation–“de-medicalizing” abortion and making it as easily available as Tylenol in our homes. It sickens my heart to think of it even as I write.

The tactics of the abortion industry are calculated and evil. There is the public face of abortion, touting a message that is pro-choice and pro-woman, and then there is what is happening behind the scenes–an agenda driven by greed to push abortion at any cost. Women and men are being fed the lie that abortion exists because someone cares about them. But that is so far from the truth. The abortion industry does not care about women; they only care about their bottom line and making it grow. Women are being used and they don’t even realize it. And along the way, countless innocent lives are being lost.

What other response can one have in the face of this reality? Anger is what comes for me and what I believe needs to come. But why do we need to be angry? Because anger is a powerful motivator. Sometimes anger motivates people to do things they should not, but other times, it is exactly what is needed to fuel action. Our hearts need to be stirred, moved, and even fired up in order to take action against evil. Otherwise, the alternative is complacency, and complacency perpetuates the status quo.

If we are not angry about what is happening to the lives of unborn babies and to their mothers, then nothing will change. It has been said that “all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” It is not enough to be sad about it, we need the kind of righteous anger that turns over tables. We need to be angry enough to be willing to stand and fight this evil. We need to “rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.” (Proverbs 24:11) And to do that, we first need to get angry.

The kind of anger we need is not the kind we have in relationships and with individuals, against which the Bible repeatedly warns us. No, our anger must be “against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12)–we need anger against evil itself. We don’t want to sin in our anger (Ephesians 4:26a), but we do want to take action; we need to get in the fight. That’s how evil is overcome.

So as you ponder your own heart in this somber and serious issue, I am going to end with something a little less than serious. As you look at my one and only existing meme, you might chuckle–you might even laugh out loud–which is okay; I won’t be offended. BUT, when that moment passes, let this picture be a reminder to you that life matters, and we need to get angry.