Before I pray today, I am really saddened by the turn of events which has led to the tabloid headlines about the lives of men like Bill Hybels, Tony Evans, and Robert Morris and countless others over the years.
Failures on the part of men who have been put on pedestals…and parenthetically, have done much good work before being exposed as the same sinful people you I are is unconscionable.
It seems to me we are a bit like those men who dragged the young girl into Jesus’ presence in John 8 to demand she be stoned for adultery. BTW, where was the man? Wasn’t he supposed to be stoned as well?
I wonder what Jesus wrote in the dust that day…my imagination says he called them out by name [“Hey, Abe, what about your wife’s maid you have been having sex with while she is at market,” “Jude, who knows about the two sets of weights you use to buy and sell grain?” “Samuel, who knows about your tryst with Jonathan?”
They all slunk away without tossing a single rock.
And yet here we are ready with pockets full of rocks ready to stone men who prove to be just as sinful as we are…you and I alike.
I have no idea whether any of these men have made peace with God over their foibles…I don’t, and it is none of my business. That’s God’s business.
What I want to know is where in the rush to judge is the grace, forgiveness, healing and restoration of which we sing and speak so glibly until it comes to someone else who has had visible failures in their lives from high places?
Shame on us all for failure to deliver what we advertise to those who need it most…me included. God help us.
Prayer: Dear God, forgive my unrepentant heart and my unwillingness to deliver to others what You have so graciously delivered to me. Help me be better, in Jesus’ name. Amen
Verse for Today: “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” As Jesus speaks, the accusers gradually leave, and Jesus is left alone with the woman. He then tells her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin again.” (John 8)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT