That they might come to know Him

Paul wrote that he would wish himself to be accursed if it meant that his brothers and sisters would know Christ. He could not see why they would not know Him, it was agony. Worse than all the scars that he bore in his body over the beatings and pain that was inflicted by those same hands. Blood and sweat and tears are the price a man payed for the salvation of others, and Paul was also willing to pay that price.
Agony is not that which you can not have, or that which produces pain, real agony is knowing that there is hope, yet watching others fall for lack of knowing it. Watching others perish, although they could simply climb back on the boat and not drown, that is true agony. God is a God of such great mercy, and love, that has been given to mankind. He sent Himself, in Jesus, and died on that cross for us, God died on the cross for us. He suffered agony for us, while asking that we be forgiven.
 I have to speak personally here, but I know pain, I know struggles and I know death. If Jesus could sweat blood in the garden, He poured that blood  out because He had such hope, and fear that it He knew His Father was faithful. Some of us have not had faithful fathers and mothers, we have had unfaithful relationships and unfaithful friends and family members. People we were supposed to always be able to trust let us down, turned their backs on us and seemed to care very little, it was inconsequential.
Agony is watching someone turn, time and time again to the one thing that would destroy them simply because they do not understand that Jesus laid His life down, that He gave up His portion for us, agony is knowing you are going to die for people who will not care.
We have been betrayed and lied to, we have been let down and forsaken and left in the dark more times than we care to admit. But why? There is hope after all of this. When pride forces us to forsake each other, we have forsaken our God, and we have forsaken everything good that we could have for the imitation of good. An interesting fact in the world of coin collecting, the counterfeit coins are often the most prized and coveted. These are coins that were never put into production but a dye was cast, and someone in the mint decided to press a few for kicks and sold them later for large sums of money.
I would lay it all down, I would give it all up that maybe one, just one, would turn and honestly know the Lord, and see what He is all about. Agony is knowing that man has traded in the life for the lie. All He offers is life.

¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10

There is no need for anyone to die alone, there is no reason for a person to live all alone in fear and pain and agony. Jesus took all of that in so that we could have abundance! This is not a sales pitch, the new car is not perfect, the man is never perfect. He is not trying to sell anyone a new car, or to bribe them into anything, or to trick them into becoming a fan of His on youtube or on myspace or to follow Him on twitter. He has no agenda like that, He does not want to take away all of your money, leaving you empty handed. He will never have children, and then abandon them to go and do His own thing, He does not rape and pillage, He has no hate. He's not like us.

2 Corinthians 1:5- For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.