Thursday, November 09, 2006

When Great Men Fall

It's been a tough week in the Christian world. A respected man has fallen. Worse, the eye of the world is upon him and his family, and also upon Christianity as a whole.

You may have questions when something like this happens. How should I react? Are all Christians hypocrites? Why did this happen?

I don't have all the answers, but I cried the day I read that press release. I was sad on a number of levels. I was sad for his church of 14,000. Sometimes when a leader fails, new believers become disillusioned. I was sad for his family. He is married and has five beautiful children. Their lives have changed overnight. I was sad for our faith, because there are many who see this as a huge opportunity to say that all Christians are fake.

But most of all I was sad for him. You see, no matter how much the spotlight is upon you, there needs to be a place where you can go to share the truth. I'm struggling. I don't know where to turn. If I talk about this, I might lose everything.

Because we all sin. People often see sin as on different levels -- as if there's small sins and big sins -- and yet that's not truth, according to scripture. Christ and his death upon the cross covered every sin.

If you struggle in secret, you miss the opportunity to find support and strength, and satan tries to isolate you, and that's a very difficult place to be -- in church and living a secret life and feel that you can't tell anyone.

So, what can you and I do during this difficult time? We can pray. We can learn from it. We can be real with others when something is trying to trip us up in our personal life.

We can also put away our pointing finger when people admit their struggles, and pull out the scriptures that promise that God is:

  1. a healer
  2. a restorer
  3. faithful
  4. a forgiver

and believe with them as they find restoration and healing.

That's what I'm asking God for. . .

My two cents,

Suzie Eller
http://realteenfaith.blogspot.com
Real Teens, Real Stories, Real Life
Making It Real - Whose Faith Is it Anyway? (January, '07)

2 comments:

Julie Garmon said...

I totally agree. Feel the same way.

♥ Julie

Cara Putman said...

Suzie, I know this is late, but I just found this post. Your words mirror what was happening in my heart as I thought about this man, his church, his family, and the church at large. It's too easy to fall into the trap (which feels like reality) that if we tell anyone about our struggles they will betray us and/or ridicule us. Bottomline, there but for the grace of God go I.