If you think you'll ever find a group of people with which you can align yourself who will never fall, you are in for a world of hurt! Your favorite football team, no matter how long their winning streak, will crumble. Mark it down! The politician you voted for, and whose hat you proudly wear, he will mess up! Members of your family, and your closest friends, they will let you down... It is inevitable!
Why? Because we are all human and humans will always let you down. And we all know this, but we try to live in a fantasy where our "team" is without fault. We revel in the destruction of our opponent and we show them no mercy, but when our "team" falls, we go ahead and make excuses and try to prove how "That's not the same." "Your kid messed up, but mine couldn't help it," "Your brother is a drunken bum, but mine has an uncontrollable illness"...
One place where we see this play out all the time is with our church leadership, particularly in a religious "movement." We point out the motes in the eyes of all the leaders in "that" movement, but ignore the beams sticking out of the eyes of our own. "Those Catholic priests are a bunch of perverts... but never mind that list of sex offenders out of my denomination."
I've been in a lot of churches and seen a lot of men fall. When I was a kid I heard that there was an usher stealing money out of the offering plates. I couldn't believe God didn't strike him dead right then and there. Later, I found out there were pastors I knew who had affairs with their secretaries. I saw not a few men step down from ministries because they were fooling around with young ladies or engaging in pornography, etc. I heard of pastors who were fired for stealing, gambling addictions... I even knew a pastor or two who left the ministry and embraced a "homosexual lifestyle."
I remember a year in Bible college, where I was battling some serious sins myself, I watched several men I greatly admired fall flat on their face, embarrassing their family, their church, and an entire organized "movement." My own parents (who were in the ministry) went through a rather embarrassing break up that same year, and left the ministry. You know, I believe many people "left the faith," after that time; or else, they continued to follow Christ but went to join another "organization" that was way more lenient on those living in sin (after all, aren't we all just dirty, rotten sinners?)
But I remember specifically saying to myself, "I'm going to fight harder. I'm going to try harder to live holy. I'm not going to be another statistic!" So, yes, I would be a liar to say I never struggle with sin and temptation ("Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"), but what I have found is that watching other men fall makes me want to try harder to stand!
I love being an "Independent," Fundamental Baptist. Some will try to link that name with a whole group of people that call themselves that, but that is not possible according to my understanding of "independent." One church body is totally separate from other church bodies. We have friends and we fellowship with the most like-minded folks we can find from other churches (no doubt, we influence one another in doctrine and methodology to some degree), but we are individual families that are responsible for ourselves before God. If a man falls, we either try to restore him or else we remove him from the church and then we move on. If I fall, I would expect the church to do the same. But it is quite nice not to have to defend or rebuke the leadership of another church that is in no way linked to ours.
Many will fall. Sometimes it will hit home and it will hurt. But don't give up and think it is futile. Stand! Work harder to keep yourself in the fight!
Why? Because we are all human and humans will always let you down. And we all know this, but we try to live in a fantasy where our "team" is without fault. We revel in the destruction of our opponent and we show them no mercy, but when our "team" falls, we go ahead and make excuses and try to prove how "That's not the same." "Your kid messed up, but mine couldn't help it," "Your brother is a drunken bum, but mine has an uncontrollable illness"...
One place where we see this play out all the time is with our church leadership, particularly in a religious "movement." We point out the motes in the eyes of all the leaders in "that" movement, but ignore the beams sticking out of the eyes of our own. "Those Catholic priests are a bunch of perverts... but never mind that list of sex offenders out of my denomination."
I've been in a lot of churches and seen a lot of men fall. When I was a kid I heard that there was an usher stealing money out of the offering plates. I couldn't believe God didn't strike him dead right then and there. Later, I found out there were pastors I knew who had affairs with their secretaries. I saw not a few men step down from ministries because they were fooling around with young ladies or engaging in pornography, etc. I heard of pastors who were fired for stealing, gambling addictions... I even knew a pastor or two who left the ministry and embraced a "homosexual lifestyle."
I remember a year in Bible college, where I was battling some serious sins myself, I watched several men I greatly admired fall flat on their face, embarrassing their family, their church, and an entire organized "movement." My own parents (who were in the ministry) went through a rather embarrassing break up that same year, and left the ministry. You know, I believe many people "left the faith," after that time; or else, they continued to follow Christ but went to join another "organization" that was way more lenient on those living in sin (after all, aren't we all just dirty, rotten sinners?)
But I remember specifically saying to myself, "I'm going to fight harder. I'm going to try harder to live holy. I'm not going to be another statistic!" So, yes, I would be a liar to say I never struggle with sin and temptation ("Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall"), but what I have found is that watching other men fall makes me want to try harder to stand!
I love being an "Independent," Fundamental Baptist. Some will try to link that name with a whole group of people that call themselves that, but that is not possible according to my understanding of "independent." One church body is totally separate from other church bodies. We have friends and we fellowship with the most like-minded folks we can find from other churches (no doubt, we influence one another in doctrine and methodology to some degree), but we are individual families that are responsible for ourselves before God. If a man falls, we either try to restore him or else we remove him from the church and then we move on. If I fall, I would expect the church to do the same. But it is quite nice not to have to defend or rebuke the leadership of another church that is in no way linked to ours.
Many will fall. Sometimes it will hit home and it will hurt. But don't give up and think it is futile. Stand! Work harder to keep yourself in the fight!
