A few ago I bought a book because I
liked what it said on the cover, “God wants you wise, free, and full of power –
seizing life beyond belief.” The introduction shared that it was fresh look at
Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It
shows us:
“The futility
of sin – and how to overcome the old sin nature.
The
wonder of true freedom in Christ.
The
awesome potential of walking in the Spirit.
The
revolutionary power of God’s kingdom.
The
centrality of love to the Christian faith.
The
abundant ministry available to you through the fruit of the Spirit.”
It
said that today we are caught up in the same traps that the Galatians were in
because of their foolish thinking. The message is liberating for the faithful,
and a reminder to stop our foolish thinking!
I
wondered why a fairly recent book was selling at the dollar store, but thought
it might help me in series I was preparing. I learned that the author was the
founding and Senior Pastor of an 11,000 member church and president of a
22 million member evangelistic group. The named sounded familiar, then I
remembered. He was one of those national Christian leaders who fell from
prominence because of a sex scandal. Subsequently he lost his job and fell from
public grace.
Our
first reaction would probably be to toss the book. I came to this conclusion,
just because the author fell to sin does not change the message Paul gave. It
just wasn’t applied to his life. Before we get too “self-righteous” I think we
need to confess that we don’t always apply God’s Word to our lives all the time
either. An Amen or Oh-Me is in order here!
David,
in the Bible, illustrates this “non-application” in his life as well. He knew
how to obey and please God, but failed. We all fall down, just like television
preachers, and people every day do. The goal in all of our situations should be
to “Get Up” with God’s help. Amen?
