One of the biggest stories over the past few days has been the abuse scandals that have rocked Penn State. What is even more difficult to believe is that Joe Paterno's credibility has been tarnished. Joe has been at the head of Penn State's football program for over 45 years and he stressed character and honor as much as winning. These recent events have left many reeling as someone they looked up to could be part of such a situation.
Growing up my hero was a baseball player named Kirby Puckett. After he was forced to retire early due to glaucoma numerous allegations surfaced about Kirby's life and his reputation was severely tarnished. My hero was not who I thought he was.
Maybe what is worse of all is that these types of stories are becoming more and more frequent. Individuals that we look up to, trust and admire seldom remain on that pedestal. Whether it is an employer, a politician or maybe even a leader within a church it seems as if everyone is capable of falling.
For the most part we focus on the individual who has erred but really the greater hurt probably lies with those who looked up to this individual or those who were hurt by that individual. They put their faith in someone who did not deserve that trust. They put their faith in someone who is not perfect and who will make mistakes. Have you been burned in this way?
This begs the question, where do you put your trust? If we have been disappointed time and time again maybe we need to take a better look at who or what it is we look up to. This is where faith comes in. From a faith perspective we would argue that we can only fully put our trust in God. Everyone else will always disappoint but God will never disappoint.
Now it is also important to remember that the church is not God. Although the church does its best to represent God the church is made up of people and it too will fall short. Our faith must go beyond everything of this world, including the church, and reside only in God. This is the only way to avoid disappointment.
So, where are you placing your faith?
See you in church,
Chris
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The problem is, we expect the church to represent God to the world. If the church is too weak to stand against wordly temptations, then how are we to look beyond it and focus on God? After all, are we not only as strong as our weakest link? Either God needs a new team or he should retire. I'm not totally serious, of course, but am concerned about your statement that says we must "...reside only in God. This is the only way to avoid disappointment." Ouch! Sounds like the church is a dismal failure...and going with your football analogy, when the team fails, the coach is held responsible. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI think we all know how the church has failed us, especially in light of the problems of the larger church and their teachings that succumb to changes in society. The lesson here is that people let us down....God and His Word NEVER will!
ReplyDeleteBut, how can anyone expect us to believe in God or in what we are supposed to believe if all we know about him is through the church? In other words, how do you KNOW that God never lets us down? It is one thing to read about God's great deeds in the Bible; it is totally another issue to believe what we read, based on personal experience. And even the Bible is confusing and, frankly, contradictory in its attempts to explain the wonders and power of God. It is a source of constant concern for many people and I, for one, am rather tired of hearing and reading such things as "God and His Word NEVER will (let us down)!"with nothing else...no supporting proof or examples or further discussion. This is not something that most people sincerely believe-especially when they are challenged by events in their lives. And what, exactly, does it mean to say that God will never let us down? Does it mean that he will always be with us (and what does THAT mean?); or that he will always do what we need for him to do, or what HE thinks we need; or what? The church is severely broken and is in real need of repair. The brokenness comes from the people who are the church, and that is US. We can't blame the "powers that be" or the societal changes, or even the President! We only have ourselves to blame: WE are not doing what God would have us do; WE are not loving and kind and forgiving and accepting, and I believe that WE are going to be held accountable for all our actions and inactions and then we can only pray for God's mercy and gracious and forgiving spirit.
ReplyDeletePastor, I agree, and l see it as individuals being either in a state righteousness or in a state of disease. Is it God's guidance or man's way? Power and greed refract reality in a disconnected manner so we become active participants in a lie. In the case of sexual harassment accusations in the news these days whether at Penn State or with political figures the cause is a spiritual virus, a virus of power that blinds our true vision with that of lies. A study illustrated how a powerful CEO has his coffee brought to him by a female employee out of duty and respect. The CEO sees "Look how she looks at me, she loves me of course. After all I am rich, powerful, successful, smart" She sees it as her job, he sees in delusion of power that she wants him. He is blinded and lead into a lie by his own power. I think it would be fair to say that most of these CEO's and powerful political figures believe what they see but for the victims see it completely differently.
ReplyDeleteThen you take another strain of the same virus and combine it with sex and power of the forbidden fruit and we have a more twisted twist of abusive power and lust. Then there is the 'blanket of pretty and too good to lose' reality covering the ugly truth that under the success it is rotten. I fear it is more common then we would like to know. "Like to know" is the weakness of our immunity that spreads the virus
But with this disease there is no cure, but there is an inoculation called gratitude, acts of humility and serving those who work for you, stewardship and prayer.
Greed is the other disease sweeping America. Again there is no cure, but there is an inoculation which is called charity, stewardship, joyful giving beyond the perception of value, to give as though we are handling God's account and possessions, which we are, to use it and give back to do His will.
Consider, Pastor, is it easier to give 10% of $1 or 10% of $100,000? Is it easier to give your church or missions $10K or $100K? Gets harder. Is it more difficult to give away larger hunks of money of a percentage of our income the higher our income and standard of living becomes? That is why, like with power blindness, we need God's inoculation for greed not just once but on a regular basis that contains gratitude, humility, charity, joyful giving and prayer. If anyone doubts this let them do a personal experiment in the practice of the above.
Consider this, is there a direct link in our character between charity and truthfulness? If we are allowed to drift away from feelings of charity for our fellow man is there also a direct effect in our respect of the truth about ourselves and the reality that surrounds us?
I enjoy your blog! Thanks!
-Jim, Tucson, AZ