the Monday Morning Debrief: are we ever going to learn?

I’ve posted about this numerous times, recently about Joe Paterno and Lance Armstrong, but honestly this topic just won’t go away so I feel that I have to continue to address it.  This week, not only did Lance Armstrong admit that he doped during his 7 Tour de France victories, but Manti T’eo revealed the girlfriend he was madly in love with and who died tragically was someone he never met and actually someone who never existed at all.  Manti may have well been tricked into falling for a girl he never met, but what continues to reveal itself is that his relationship with her, all that he said about her in interviews, was a little deceiving and it raises red flags about his character as well.

So how does this apply to ministry?

It’s important in 2 ways.  Our character and the truth is important as it boils down to who we are.  Americans are generally forgiving when people come forward with the truth, even if it was a lapse in judgment or character.  But what people continue to have a hard time with is when people deceive and lie and show tremendous flaws over a lengthy period of time.

As ministers we are not expected to be perfect.  We are all messed up people.  However, people have a hard time understanding and comprehending when we hide the truth, especially something that could damage our ministry or reputation, instead of stopping it and being truthful about it.  For instance, this is the case with Lance Armstrong. Not only did he live a lie, but he bullied and threatened people who were attempting to exposed that lie.  For years he did this as he built his life up around that lie, never expecting to get caught.  And now, his life is forever tarnished, DESPITE all the great things he has done for cancer support and research.  That is what is very sad here.  Livestrong and cancer support will never be the same.

Here’s the point.  Ultimately, the truth will come out.  It came out about Lance Armstrong and Manti T’eo and it will come out with you if you continue to live a lie.  We live in a social media world where nothing is every fully private.  Everything we do gets documented someway, somehow.  So, come if you are hiding something, come clean.  Because the reality is, the longer this is hidden, the more damage it will do to others and yourself.

Now, make no doubt about it, if you come clean with your lapse in judgement or error, it will cause problems.  There will be consequences and people will be hurt.  But as I pointed out above, when we come clean and be honest, Americans have shown over time to be a very forgiving bunch of people.  For the healing and the restoration to begin, the truth has to come out and be addressed.  Lance will recover, to an extent, but his life will never be the same…and it didn’t have to be that way.

So right now, TAKE A MINUTE and think through your life.  Is there something you need to come clean about?  Maybe it is something small or not particularly damaging, but it is weighing on you.  Come clean with it to someone.  Get it off your chest and seek the Lord for forgiveness and restoration.  Because remember, the longer you keep it hidden, the harder it is to reveal it and the more damage it could do.

Thoughts?  Experiences?  Comments?  Post some below so that we can all learn from each other and benefit.