When I was at a training school in the US Army at Ft. Knox I was appointed to be assistant platoon leader. My duties were to support the platoon leader and to keep up the standards of life in the military both inside the living quarters and outside. My role developed to more of a leadership position and I felt like I was doing a good job. The platoon leader, for reasons of his own, sought to undermine my position and at one formation of the troops ridiculed me in a malicious way. He thought he was being funny. What he was really doing was trying to take away from me areas where I was doing well with the troops. After the incident the unit sergeant, squad leaders, and I met with the platoon leaders to confront his behavior. He was defensive and couldn't understand where our concern came from. With the majority of the platoon no longer respecting my position, the authority of my position was destroyed. Most no longer took my orders seriously and the remainder of my time in that position was nullified. One little act took out the "order" of life in the platoon. This is true of our lives today and especially of our Christian life. The enemy goes about the earth seeking whom he can devour. His plan is to take you out. Make a mistake and it will follow you for the rest of your life. People remember our sins but rarely acknowledge our successes. William James said it best, "God may forgive us our sins but mankind does not."
I've made plenty of errors in my Christian life. Some were unintentional and others were from the plan to sin on my part. Either way, they were wrong and damaged my witness. People tend to regret actions taken and I am no different. My sins have had consequences just as when I'm obedient there are consequences. Christian leaders have fallen. Christian followers have fallen. Christian organizations have fallen. Our Christian nation has fallen. We are a fallen people living in a fallen world. The damage to our faith carries on to the ineffectiveness of our witness. Once faith has been compromised there are none who can undo the actions, words, and sins. Yes, we have Jesus who will forgive us our sins. God remembers them no more, throws them in the sea of forgetfulness and casts them away from him as far as east is to west. Mankind, not so much. If people won't stand for something, they will fall for everything. I don't live in a world where the clock can be turned back and the sin not be in the memories of those who I've sinned against or even my own memories. What happens next is the "change" that takes place in your and my ministry. Once living in plan A, we are now presented with plan B.
The Bible is clear on the Christian's life. We are to be a holy people set apart from the world we live in. Our Christian communities are to be a place of strength and right living. ANYTHING that is wrong in our lives will direct the evolution of the "new" standard where wrong becomes right and justification and rationalization take over our lives, our churches and our communities. The standard is there for a reason. The standard is to live the Christian life in such a way that people WANT what you have. It's not to take the Christian life and lower it so that people are not offended, communities embrace only when we embrace them, and sin isn't mentioned for political correctness reasons. Like the frog put in the kettle of cold water doing nothing to escape the rising heat, we too, will be dead in our Christian life when we choose plan B. This isn't negotiable. This is what the Bible says, Jesus warned against, and who he confronted in his earthly ministry. This is what happens in so many Christians, so many churches and so many Christian communities. The Word is not just for the past. the word is for the present and the future Christians as well. Choose this day whom you will serve and move forward with Jesus. It's always your choice.
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