What Else Can We Learn from Fallen Christian Leaders?
- Leaders should not be placed on pedestals.
Leaders should not live on pedestals, either of their own making or built by their followers. Leaders are men and women too, made of flesh and blood. They are vulnerable in every way you and I are. When you place a leader on a pedestal, you can be sure that someday, somehow they will disappoint you.
Whether leading or following each of us must come to God in humility and dependence on a daily basis. If we begin to think we are above this, we will drift from God. We will open ourselves up to sin and pride.
- Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,
and haughtiness before a fall. (NLT)So, don't place yourself, or your leaders on a pedestal.
- Sin that destroys a leader's reputation does not happen overnight.
Sin begins with a thought or an innocent look. When we dwell on the thought or we revisit with a second glance, we invite sin to grow. Little by little we go deeper and deeper until we are so entangled in sin we don't even want to be freed. I have no doubt this is how a leader like Ted Haggard eventually found himself caught in sin.
- James 1:14-15
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. (NLT)So, don't let sin entice you. Flee from the first sign of temptation.
- A leader's sin does not offer a license for you to sin.
Don't let someone else's sin encourage you to continue in your own sin. Let the terrible consequences they are suffering cause you to confess your sin and get help now, before your situation gets any worse. Sin is not something to play around with. If your heart is truly set to follow God, he will do what is necessary to expose your sin.
Numbers 32:23
...be sure your sin will find you out. (NASB) - Having sin exposed is the best thing for the leader.
Although the horrible aftermath of the fallen leader's scandal may seem like the worst possible circumstance with no positive outcome, don't despair. Remember God is still in control. Most likely he is allowing the sin to be exposed so that repentance and restoration can come into the person's life. What seems like a victory for the devil may actually be God's hand of mercy, saving a sinner from further destruction.
- Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (KJV)
Jacob was a cheater, Solomon and Samson had problems with women. God used prostitutes and thieves and every kind of sinner imaginable to prove that man's fallen condition is not what matters in God's eyes. It is God's greatness - his power to forgive and restore - that should make us bow down in worship and wonder. We should always be in awe of his importance and his desire to use someone like you, someone like me. In spite of our fallen condition, God sees us as valuable - each and every one of us.
