Character counts. People expect it of leaders be they parents, presidents or pastors. They expect their leaders to behave well, to exhibit maturity and to set a good example. When they fail to do so, people can be disappointed, disillusioned and downright angry. This seems to be true especially in the Christian world, the last place that should be so.
As Bill and I have watched the fall-out from the most recent case of self-destruction in Charismatic Crazyland (if you don’t know what I’m referring to, consider yourself blessed), two things have occurred to me to explain the unChrist-like attitudes of the offended.
First, too many people have a misconception of what occurs at salvation. They believe that when someone gets saved, everything is then “under the blood,” and “all things are made new.” Meaning, in their faulty thinking, that the person is now rid of all ill-effects of the past and no longer subject to any previous ungodly choices they have made — e.g., judgments, agreements with lies of the enemy, or adoption of unholy attitudes. This, however, is simply not true.
Jesus died for the salvation of the whole world but, obviously, the whole world is not saved. The salvation must be appropriated by the individual for it to be effective in their life. In the same way, once a person is saved, their entire past is under the blood, but if they don’t appropriate it, they are still under its power. That’s why we see Christians who are selfish, fearful, controlling, angry, immoral, etc. Until a person takes responsibility for their ungodly choices/responses by confessing, forgiving, renouncing, and/or repenting, they are not really free from their past and, leader or not, can behave badly.
Secondly, many Christians don’t distinguish between gifting and character. They mistakenly believe that if someone exhibits great gifting or anointing that is evidence that they are mature Christians. When their behavior proves otherwise, it can be deeply disturbing and confusing, leaving people feeling deceived.
The truth is, we are all a work in progress. We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. This transformation, however, doesn’t occur by God waving a magic wand over us. It comes as we submit ourselves to the process of sanctification by receiving healing from the wounds of the past, taking responsibility for our bad responses, learning to receive from our Heavenly Father the things we didn’t receive from our earthly parents, and developing a life-style of Christian disciplines.
Personally, I believe sozo is an excellent tool to use in this journey and so I will take this opportunity to invite you to consider coming to our next Sozo School.
