Episode 15--Navigating Christianity while witnessing a fall

Hello, Civilla Morgan here! Welcome to episode 15 of the Not Just Another Religion and Politics Podcast! Thank you for tuning in! So here’s the deal: 

I want this podcast to speak to people, not yell at people. Whether you are a Believer or not, a Christian or not, I want this podcast to be so plain in its language, that even if you have never stepped into a church, you will get this. You will get who Jesus is, and you will get what relationship with Him could be like, despite what people--Christians and non-Christians, try to do to get you to turn your back. Come along with me. I promise it will be a really cool experience! 

 

Well, it took me some time to get to where I needed to be to create this episode. Sometimes, many times, when you are creating, whether you are a songwriter, a painter,  a musician; whatever type of creator or creative you are, there are setbacks and delays. Setbacks and delays no matter how much you want to complete a project so you can move on to the next thing, you’re not finished until you are finished. And that’s just the way it is. In fact, I might go further and say that if you try to finish before you are finished, you will know. And more importantly, your audience will know.

 

Thus, I have learned to allow and live with the setbacks and delays as uncomfortable and as disruptive to my schedule they may be. Setbacks meaning life happens, but also just not being in the right state of mind to create what needs to be created. I have always been of the mindset that I need to create in such a way that I tell the truth, I back up the truth with proof, but that I do so with class. I’m going somewhere with this. 

 

As I worked on this episode, I thought constantly about whether or not I sounded judgemental. I feel like I left judgemental a long time ago, but I wanted to be absolutely sure. I believe most of us leave judgemental when real life sets in and we find that we have made one or two really bad decisions. A handful of folks get to make it through life without making major bad decisions. I call those people quite fortunate. But most of us have done one or two things in our lives that if we had the chance we would go back in time and fix it. 

Never fear, for those of us who messed up, we can take the opportunity to learn lessons from those mess-ups. Learning lessons from our mistakes is what makes us wise.   

 

You know, that verse, 

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’--Matthew 7:1-5.

We have the first verse memorized right? Well, I added verses 2-5 for context and as an exclamation point.  Look, I am attempting to lay a truth and proof filled foundation for everything I am about to say. 

You may ask, ‘well what is the point of this episode, why even bring up what you are about to discuss?’  I thought about that. And it was partly because I was so absolutely proud of the Christian Community for not chasing after, running down, and attempting to verbally destroy the latest victim of bad decisions, on social media.  Yes, there is an outlet here and there that will discuss this latest fall on their platforms in great detail. And they may say some things that are true and needed, but oh my, it could have been so much worse. I honestly thought Twitter would be overrun with judgment from Believers. 

Yes, many said that Mr. Fallwell should step down. At first, he refused but eventually did step down. 

For the record: I agreed with those who asked him to step away from his post at Liberty University. I believe God will bring healing to him and to the university, but sometimes healing comes only through stepping down, sitting down, at least for a time. 

And of course, change usually takes all involved down a new path. ‘All involved’ usually means even the innocent, the onlookers. But God will be glorified in the changes.

Here’s the thing. There are not many of us on this planet who will not mess up. I’m talking about a major mess up. The kind that you probably said you would never do. The kind where you ask ‘what in the world? How did I get here?! And then if you are honest and you want to make things right, you rest a while and then start the journey back to where you messed up so that you can fix things and then try to get back on the path forward. 

Years ago my dad told me ‘you have to go back to where you messed up and fix it before you can continue on.’  And as I look back at my life, it is true. I can see the places where I have gone back and made things right, and the places where I did not. We might as well be honest right?

I did an episode called ‘Grace and Mercy’, link in the show notes. And I pray ‘grace and mercy’ for this man and his family as well as the innocent bystanders. 

Remember, it could be you, it could be me, no matter how many times you say ‘I could never.’  Life is just crazy, and without a doubt, any of us can find ourselves sitting in the results of some really bad decisions.  

 

Here are four things I suggest we all learn how to do as human beings, Believers or not:

1. When you mess up, admit it. 
2. Talk to God about it. 
3. Ask his forgiveness.  
4. And this next part, not easy at all! Ugh, ask those you sinned against for forgiveness as well. That part is never easy.  

 

I wrote a book in 2008 entitled ‘Down Again’. Email me for a copy or purchase on Amazon. I wrote the book for those who have fallen as well as those who want to know more about the Christian walk. Because guess what, Christians fall. Why? Because we are not perfect. We are human beings. If we are Christians, then we are humans who are being perfected as we walk with Jesus. As we commune with Him and He communes with us. But for us to commune with Jesus, we have to be in relationship with Him. And when we are in relationship with Him, we are in tune with Him. We listen to him prompting and speaking to our hearts. We are obedient. And when we do all of that, we are less likely to fall.  

But the fact is we don’t always listen and obey. Our flesh gets in the way. We want what we want when we want it. We disobey God’s commands which have our best interests at heart, and then we make a mess. We’ve seen them over the years. Stalwarts of the faith being caught in compromising situations because they want to be cool or they just give into certain desires. Remember, the fact is we will never be perfect, we are just being perfected. That’s not an excuse, it’s the truth. The way to stay out of compromising situations is to stay in with Jesus.  

And look, this is not a guilt trip, but I have spoken with people who have told me that certain ‘falls from grace’ had deeply affected their own walk with God. And that my friends, is the clincher. People are watching us, and in their watch, they seldom believe that we are human and that we can mess up once we announce to the world that we are Christians, Believers. It’s a heavyweight to bear, and it is unfair because we are just as human as they are, except for our decision.

You see, it is our decision, our decision to follow Jesus, that sets us apart. And it is not always easy to live ‘set apart’. Set apart does not mean better than, it just means set apart. When something is set apart, it is not supposed to be used for everyday run of the mill things.  It is to be used for what it is set apart for. When someone becomes a Christian, a Believer, they have made the decision to set themselves apart to live a certain lifestyle. Again, it does not make them better, it makes them realize that they cannot live the life they were living before. You can’t live two lives.    

So, then let me add something to the list I gave you earlier:

1. When you mess up, admit it. 
2. Talk to God about it. 
3. Ask his forgiveness.  
4. And this next part, not easy at all! Ugh, ask those you sinned against for forgiveness as well. That part is never easy.    
5. Understand what it means to live a set-apart life. 

What Does It Mean To Be Set Apart?

‘To be set apart means God chose us specifically for His Glory. The church has been set apart to be holy as God is holy and to tell the world that God through Jesus Christ called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. As a Christian, I am set apart to show the great and marvelous love God has for us and to live a life that is holy before God. This means living a life that is not conformed to the ways of this world.’--From the Living His Word website. See link below. 

But no matter what we have done, if we as I mentioned above, ask God to forgive us, we can remind ourselves of the following:

 ‘This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him, there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin. 

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.’--1 John 1:1-8

So, if we claim to have fellowship with God yet walk in darkness we are lying. We can’t hate our fellow man, our neighbors.  We can’t live a unChristian like life and pretend to be Christians expecting to go to Heaven when we die. You can’t have it both ways!

Again, we are not perfect as human beings. We will make mistakes. We will mess up. But messing up and then staying messed up is the issue.  

Look at verse 8, ‘if we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not within us.’ So heads up, don’t deceive yourself, and don’t try to deceive anyone else. No one is perfect. And we all know it.

Instead, work towards perfection. 

Keep your heart in the right place at all times. 

When you mess up admit it. 

Don’t be petty. Ooops, how did that get there? And don’t think you are going to get away with whatever it is you are trying to get away with. It always comes out.   

Research links:

https://livinghisword.org/what-does-it-mean-to-be-set-apart-for-god/

https://www.openbible.info/topics/being_set_apart

Scriptures mentioned:

• Matthew 7:1-5
• Exodus 3:2
• Matthew 22:36-40
• 1 John 1:5-8

Episode links: 

Red Letters by David Crowder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfWKuP88EE

 

Big Daddy Weave My Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TKAN-nAsu8

 

Matthew West

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdUu6ZsdVfM

 

My book, ‘Down Again’

https://www.authorhouse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/269980-Down-Again

Grace and Mercy episode

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cp3rt-e63e5f

 

Red Letters episode

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-jijzx-e099df

Episode Takeaways:

‘When God fixes something that’s broken, you don’t even see the line.’

 

‘God can fix anything. He has fixed the craziest things.’

 

‘When God fixes things they turn out even better than before the mess.’ 

 

‘Nothing is the same once it’s broken except when God fixes it.’

 

Closing commentary:

Don’t forget, I would love to hear from you on the question: 

‘Who is God?’ 

Episode outro:

Thank you for tuning in. Let me know via social media or by email if you have feedback. I would love to hear from you! You may email me at [email protected]. Please give me 24 to 48 hours to respond. And don’t forget to check the show notes for the sources used for this episode. Until next time! 

 

Episode quote:

“A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip.”--Billy Graham.