(You) got to have faith!

This comes from an article at Focus on the Family's Boundless blog. I would like to take the time to explain, that I really don't blog for another else's sake. I blog for my own. I am a very selfish blogger. I see an article I like and I have thoughts about it that I don't want to forget, so I blog. I am near a computer more often then I am near my journal, so I blog. My siblings have said, "it is so boring when you post a hymn or a song or an article". But I am not blogging for them. I am blogging for me. So if I want to remember that hymn when I get home, I blog it. Most of the things I post here are just so that I can remember them later on. Sometimes I write entries for other people, but the majority of my blogging is for me. So with that explained, on to the article.

Thanks for reading.


"Some of the most painful moments of my life have come when the devastating sin of someone I admired—a pastor, a professor, a friend—has been revealed. You reel for a moment, trying to reconcile all the spiritual insight you have gained from this person with their present state of failure. It hurts. Of course there is a sense of betrayal, but probably it hurts the most because it makes you more keenly aware of your own sin and propensity to fail. You think, If that person failed, what is the hope for me?

The hope is Jesus Christ and the victory He promises. Living under Christ's control and not becoming entangled in sin is possible. Still, in this world, we all experience moments of failure—some more devastating than others. I found Morgenthaler's observations comforting. Speaking of the same class, she writes:

We had been affirming to each other how important truth telling is, more important than saving a “career” or saving a congregation’s squeaky-clean image. But, then I said truth must always come in the context of grace extended in tangible ways (read, an intentional healing process that usually requires much time and sacrifice). I explained that truth and mercy were the two inseparable antidotes to darkness. Then, the light of hope dawned on her face.

Hope. In the midst of disillusionment, there is always hope. It comes in the form of the truth God tells us about our sinful tendencies and the grace He offers through the all-sufficient sacrifice of His Son. Let us take the antidote ourselves and offer it to those around us."