Skeletons, Skeletons, and More Skeleton!

Ok. So I'm just going to come right out and say it. If you have some kind of deep, dark, deceptive secret lurking in your heart you need to get it out and deal with it. I'm tired of reading all these reports of big named Christians coming out with some secret. This guy faked cancer and wrote a song about healing. Another guy lead a "revival" and cheated on his wife the whole time. Another guy wrote a bunch of Christian songs in the 90's came out as being gay and has been gay the whole time. It is destroying our work. It is undoing everything we are trying to accomplish. It is absolutely tarnishing the name of Christ.

This stuff just doesn't happen. It is something we let sit in our hearts. We don't deal with it. We cross all the lines we drew and justify them. We become older and more "enlightened". We hide. We hide our habits, our struggles, our temptations, our real selves. We let darkness get deep in our hearts and then one day it comes out and ruins everything. How many Christians are actually living a double life? How many are actually consumed with darkness?

I read something this morning, before I even heard about one of these "moral failures", that deals with all of this. Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."

We would do very well to heed this word and remove all the junk that hinders us and traps us. Yeah, I know no one is perfect. I know we mess up but there is a difference between messing up and living a lie. You see, the truth always comes out when that individual is on a much larger scale for the world to see. That way the damage is done in a more amplified way. What greater way to destroy the faith? It always happens when everyone is watching not when you are home or in a small setting. The enemy wants to do as much damage as possible.

But we in America have so blurred the lines of right and wrong. We try to justify everyone's sins and call them something they are not. We reject the authority of the Word and depend on our feelings. We don't even realize that we are destroying the fabric of our country and culture. Sin is no longer sin it is a "condition". It is something "I was born with". It is a "product of my upbringing and culture". Or the always convenient, "I am what I am". We make more excuses for sin than we know what to do with. And we are paying for this excessive "freedom". The church is paying for it. It is embarrassing. It is making our lives and mission harder. We would do well to pick up the Bible again and see what it says and to DO what it says. How many Christian and brothers and sister must fall in order for us to get the point?

Yeah, I'm a little hot right now. I'm not to concerned with how people perceive this note or me. I'm not trying to be negative and doomsday. We have allowed legions of skeletons to reside in our hearts and now they are slowing rising up. Integrity is a big big deal. If you struggle with something then tell someone. If you are living a lie, then get help. Now is the time to come clean. Now is the time.