One more thought about the Ted Haggard situation.
So much has been written (or said) about the fall of Ted Haggard. People tend to look at his removal from the presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals and pastor of the New Life Church as a fall. If we could think simply in terms of Mr. Haggard's relationship with the Lord, these past events do not indicate a fall, but rather, a rising. The fall occurred a long time ago, based on his statement of struggling with such issues throughout his adult life. Finally, he can now deal with the issues head-on. He can turn to the Lord in full sincerity. He can truly repent.
I am reminded of the woman caught in adultery (John 8). That must of been a terrible and embarrassing experience for her. Yet, that was the day she came face-to-face with God. I bet it didn't take long before she could look back and recognize that day as the best day of her life.
So Ted Haggard is not the president of the NAE anymore. Does anyone think that if the NAE ceased to exist tomorrow, anything would be lost? He is not the pastor of his congregation any longer. If the congregation is correctly founded, and it seems that it is, it will carry on without him in that particular role. Mr. Haggard is not a man stuck in a downward spiral, he is a man on the rise.
May we all strain to see things from God's perspective.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
A man on the rise
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8 comments:
Excellent point, Jason. Thanks for your encouraging comments!
Excellent post Jason! I totally agree. I have a post on "For What it’s Worth" dealing with the first beatitude -- "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."(I know it's a shameless plug, but I couldn't pass it up)
Anyway, when I think about the beginning of real life in Jesus, he says it starts with an honest coming-to-grips look at our spiritual state before God. The scripture says "there is none righteous, no not one." When God says none are righteous -- that's what he means. None of us are.
The only way (there is no other way now -- and there never will be)
the only way we will ever come to life -- real life in Jesus, is to admit that we are lost and helpless on our own, and allow him to daily lead us to great hope and victory.
We will never achieve any quality of spiritual living and relationship with God and others without realizing how incredibly destitute we are before him - and turning it all over to him.
As I read your post I couldn’t help but think about the verse, and the song – “humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
I agree – Mr. Haggard is a man on the rise…
Jason, I too appreciate your post and shedding a different light on this tragic time in this man's life. I have a few different feelings about this apology that he offered to his church.
One, is that the person that was commenting about this letter on the link that you sent refers that he does not think it is sincere because he was caught doing this. It is funny how we can make two different thoughts out of a situation. Whether caught or not this man was deep in sin. It makes no sense that we would downplay it more if he would have just come out and admitted it and then say that he is not sincere because he was caught in it. The fact is that anytime you are this deep in sin no matter what it is you risk the chance of being caught. But obviously that is not the sin because if you were scared about being caught you would not do it. This shows the power that Satan can possess when we allow him to have control over our lives. The truth is that we are all sinners and risk the chance of being "caught" in sin. We really are caught once we engage in it because the important person knows about it.
The other thought comes when Ted says "The public person I was wasn’t a lie; it was just incomplete". Is this not true about any Christian, we can stand up and serve, evangelize to the community, do community service in the name of the LORD but at the same time we are all sinners and have some struggles and temptations we are dealing with.
I truly believe that even Ted Haggard will be amongst those forgiven seeing that he becomes one with the LORD again.
I would say typically someone "caught" in sin is a result of them not being able to repent because they are not feeling "safe" around those that should be encouraging and lifting them back up.
What a perfect example of when we can be encouraging and uplifting so that the next person can feel "safe".
It's nice to try look on the positive side!
God bless
Maria in the UK
www.inhishands.co.uk
Great post, Jason! Amen!!
Jennifer
Aaron,
I, too, was struck by his statement of being "incomplete." You are right on in asking if we aren't all the same.
I would say that Mr. Haggard is most definitely taking a turn uphill. I'm all for forgiveness and offering help to anyone who needs it.
However, the woman caught in adultry never claimed to be a Pharisee. Jesus dealt much more harshly with the religious leaders than the common man. James warned about the greater judgement placed upon those who are teachers.
Ted Haggard is an intelligant man. He knew his struggle, he knew he was weak. Yet allowed himself to hold a position of great authority in the church. Why? I can't imagine - other than foolish pride.
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