The Monday Morning Debrief: What’s in your Closet?

On Saturday, Herman Cain, one time front runner for the Republican Presidential Nomination, removed himself from consideration of this honor. It was just 3 months ago that he was taking the Republican Party by storm and gaining tons of momentum leading into the primaries.  So you may be wondering how can a guy go from strong performer and front runner to bowing out so quickly? Simple, he had things in his “closet” that are now starting to come out.  Most notably an alleged 13 year affair with a woman.  The problem was this wasn’t the first accusation against Cain.  At least 3 other women have come forth and said that he made sexual advances towards them in the past.  To date, Cain has denied having an affair and making advances towards these women.  But these allegations have taken a toll on him and his campaign so he announced his withdraw from the campaign yesterday.

So Cain dropped out of the race. Since I have heard the news I have wondered 2 things: Do you think he would have thought about dropping out had these women not come forward?  Also, had he known these women would have come forward, do you think he would have run in the first place?  I can’t answer those questions but one thing is for certain, having things come out of your “closet” definitely puts a real wrench in things.

So how does this apply to ministry?

What’s in your closet?  Who are you when no one is looking?  Who are you when you aren’t “on” doing ministry?  As we are discovering with Herman Cain, what’s in our closet can bring ruin to good things.  Cain was on a roll!  He had the early lead and had people talking.  Now, it’s all coming down because he had things in his closet that were hidden.  Again, these are all allegations, but if they come out to be true, then his secret life he led will end up be the death of his candidacy.

The same is true with ministry.  No matter how great your ministry is, if what’s in your closet is not glorifying to God, Satan will use it against you to destroy what’s good, godly things you are doing. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (ESV).  Satan doesn’t mess around.  He’s out to destroy.  And unfortunately, I have seen too many students get hurt and ministries get destroyed because there was something in a youth leaders closet that came out and wrecked havoc in the lives of students and families.

Don’t let that be you or your ministry. If you have something in your “closet” that needs to be stopped or come out with, be proactive about it and stop it.  Do whatever it takes.  Seriously!  God has great plans for you and your ministry.  Don’t let Satan grab a foothold in it and cause years of chaos in your life and the lives of many others.  Let the Herman Cain incident be a reminder to us all that our lives need to be consistent both in public and in private. Who we are when we are “on” is the same person as who we are when we are “off”.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Experiences?  Post a comment and let the discussion begin so that we can all benefit from it.