What have we learned lately? That any and all can fall. Leaders in all walks of life fall from favor with the public daily. Be they doctors, lawyers, politicians or religious men. Almost always it is surrounded by shock and disbelief. We raise men up to being bigger and better than we ourselves are. For some reason we think people who rise to the top ought not be plagued by the same things we are.
Wake up call - they are just people.
As far as lawyers and doctors and the rest go, to me it's not a big deal. But when a so called "religious leader" falls it can be a big mess. Believers and non-believers alike don't know how to respond.
There is only one way for the Church (the global Body of Christ) to respond - that is to take it as a reminder of how we need fear the Lord and check ourselves to see if we are indeed "in the Faith." When we see a professing brother fall we need to pray for him, and others involved, and then we need to pray for wisdom and guidance. Often another man's failure is a wake up call for ourselves.
Forgiveness is a tough thing. Especially when we suppose the person doesn't deserve it. It's so easy to look at someone and think of how terrible his sin is or was. Non-believers at least have an excuse. But Believers are left without excuse. We are to forgive as we have already been forgiven. We were sinners, and still do sin now, so we must admit that we are not worthy of the gift we've been given and that means we ought give the gift of forgiveness to others who are not worthy. To demand a man become worthy first, is to say we have a higher standard than God does. Heaven forbid!!! If a man COULD become worthy then Christ died in vain. Surely that is not so.
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