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Guilty. Does grace still cover?
By Jeremy | November 6, 2006
... I am guilty of sexual immorality, and I take responsibility for the entire problem. I am a deceiver and a liar. There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life. For extended periods of time, I would enjoy victory and rejoice in freedom. Then, from time to time, the dirt that I thought was gone would resurface, and I would find myself thinking thoughts and experiencing desires that were contrary to everything I believe and teach. Through the years, I’ve sought assistance in a variety of ways, with none of them proving to be effective in me. Then, because of pride, I began deceiving those I love the most because I didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them. The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete. When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe. ...As sad and disappointing as this situation is, I'm concerned that it's hardly an isolated case. It's certainly the most public falling in recent years, but for some reason sexual sin is still a taboo that the church struggles to discuss in nonjudgmental terms. As a result, men like Ted Haggard war with themselves in secret until dominated. Sometimes, the sin is publicly exposed causing embarassment and shame. To his credit, after initial panic and a feable cover up on Friday, Pastor Haggard came clean over the weekend. But I long for the day when men who struggle with sexual temptation won't have to do so alone, when those wars don't have to linger because of fear of people's reaction. In the meantime, I'm reminded that, "Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more" (Romans 5:20). For Pastor Haggard and his family and the New Life community, I pray simply that God's "grace would be sufficient for them, for His power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). Related + Innocent until proven Guilty (11/3/06) + Let’s Talk about Sex (April 2004, Tri-State Voice) + Things We Don’t Talk About (February 2005, Tri-State Voice, syndicated in Relevant) + Article Index
Topics: evangelical, sex, ted haggard | 3 Comments »
November 6th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
This is sobering in so many ways. The other day I overheard folks talking about Haggard while on line at a movie theater. Folks in the city (everywhere for that matter) are cynical about evangelicals and this incident only provided fuel.
I’m with you, I pray for Haggard and his family, that God can sustain his marriage during the difficult days ahead.
November 6th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
Well said!
November 6th, 2006 at 9:27 pm
Amen, amen! The truth is that this goes on more than we care to admit and like I’ve said before its not just “men”. Women are struggling with sexual issues as well. We can ALL go there and that’s the point we should be reflecting on. It doesn’t take away the fact that when someone becomes a visible leader, another thing they should factor into the “should I or shouldn’t I” brain game is that when they fall, they won’t just hurt themselves or their loved ones, they will hurt all those who ‘trusted’ ‘followed’ ‘give’ to their ministry and then we all just begin…again. But I agree, men and women, need the courage to stand up while battling the dark then face the light of exposure all alone because as my mom used to say…no se puede tapar el cielo con la mano (you can’t hide the sky with your hand) meanng of course, “eventually” it all comes out. I think when I am faced with crazy thoughts beside my desire not to dis God it’s how will my fall impact others.