Sin and Consequences

I really hate the consequences of sin. In my life I have had to deal with the consequences of my own sin, poor choices that led to difficult outcomes. When someone sins that has a wide influence, it spills out in so many directions and affects so many lives. Our choir recently began working on a wonderful song titled Healer. It was written by a young Australian minister who wrote the song in one sitting after finding out that he had an aggressive, terminal cancer. At one of our choir rehearsals we showed a You Tube video from Hillsong Church telling the story of the song and its impact at Hillsong. It was very moving and impacted each person there. Hillsong recorded the song on their latest CD. Earlier this week the world began to discover that this story is a total fabrication. There was no cancer and associated health problems. It was with great sadness that I told our choir last night about this terrible turn of events. While we want to be forgiving and compassionate, a lot of lives have been affected, and it gives people another example to point to when they say things like, "Christians are all hypocrites" or "If you can't get your act together and you say you are a Christian, how do you expect me to believe that there is anything to being a Christian." I hate the black eyes that these kind of events give us. And yet, at the same time it reminds us that God doesn't expect people to look to us for righteousness, He wants us to turn to Him. Even David, a man after God's own heart, was guilty of a heinous crime as King of Israel. Not only did he receive forgiveness, today we draw great strength and truth from David's Psalms. When the disappointment from this situation begins to fade, perhaps we'll work on the song again. It really is a great song. In the meantime, we'll try to keep our eyes on Jesus, just Jesus.