“For God Who said, Let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts so as [to beam forth] the Light for the illumination of the knowledge of the majesty and glory of God [as it is manifest in the Person and is revealed] in the face of Jesus Christ (the Messiah). However, we possess this precious treasure [the divine Light of the Gospel] in [frail, human] vessels of earth, that the grandeur and exceeding greatness of the power may be shown to be from God and not from ourselves.”
2 Corinthians 4:6-7, The Amplified Bible
"The thing that you want to hide is the thing that He (God) wants to use. You gotta testify.”
Gospel singer John P. Kee
"He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair - and then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there."
Killing Me Softly, Roberta Flack
My wife and I listened to a one and a half hour "sermon" yesterday on sexual immorality and promiscuity by a nationally prominent minister. After all the hyperbole, big words and flowery examples, the popular preacher never 1) called out the root of the problem, 2) gave his own testimony of how he (a divorcee for 10+ years) coped with struggles, challenges and failings, or 3) challenged people to change. He just preached a good sermon, using eloquence, homiletics, hermeneutics, apologetics and histrionics without hitting the bulls-eye - sin.
This morning, Cozette and I watched a ten-minute video clip sent to me by my son, Pastor Darryl Ford II, in which Nate Larkin transparently showed us his scars, failings and frailties. We saw and heard the voice of Jesus shine and beam out of his life like a lighthouse beacon. Isn’t that the point of ministry, after all?
This year there has been a rash of prominently known ministries experiencing divorce, primarily (but not exclusively) due to adultery and fornication. As a three-time divorcee, I’ve made horrible mistakes, decisions, and know enough to not throw stones or judge. Had I confronted my own issues as Nate did, I would have spared my family the pain of divorce. I’ve spent the last twenty or so years dealing with my moral failure, as have my children, who have been saddled with the fallout and baggage of my failings.
Why do we support and applaud ministries who have no accountability? When do we reject style and seek substantive ministry that pierces the heart and changes lives? When will we take personal accountability, casting off our costumes of religious personas and come as we are, presenting the broken fragments of our lives as receptacles of God’s grace and mercy?
~ matter of the mind challenge ~
1. View the video on this link: http://iamsecond.com/#/seconds/Nate_Larkin/
2. Pass the link on to everyone you know.
3. Challenge yourself to a new level of transparency/honesty/repentance.
4. Don't eat spiritual garbage; demand accountability of pastors and other ministry sources.
5. Leave a comment on my blog – I’d like to hear your opinions/reactions.
Unless and until each of us are transparent before God and with each other, the smudge of our lives will blur the perception of who Christ is to the world, which is all the Christ the world will ever see, hear and know.
Thank you Nate. Thank you DJ. Thank you Jesus.
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