๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐บ-๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด, ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐บ, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ญ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ. ๐๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ง๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ. ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ด, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ. ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด.
๐ ๐ง๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐น ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต.
๐๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ง๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฎ๐บโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต. ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ฅโ๐ด.
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐:
When ambitious men stand on stages and succumb to the lure of the spotlight but not the working of the Spirit, the Church suffers.
When talent and natural ability supersede spiritual gifting and anointing, the message suffers.
When wagons are circled to protect those in power, without holding them accountable, the congregation suffers.
When people choose convenience over holiness and status quo over righteousness, the mission suffers.
When leaders, scripturally cautioned with the promise of โgreater condemnation,โ condemn others instead, unity suffers.
When truth is hidden and propaganda is dispensed in its place, trust suffers.
When victims are vilified and perpetrators protected, when shepherds fail the very sheep they were called to lead, a lost and scattered, observing world suffers. And scoffs. And doubts. And turns away. From the very thingโthe very Oneโthey need.
Simply because lowercase shepherds forgot it was all about the one, true uppercase Shepherd. They started well, but quickly succumbed to the seduction of influence and recognition. Initially impervious to flattery, they gobbled it up like one starved, heaping to themselves praises meant for God.
They forgot.
They forgot Who it was forโtheir audience of oneโthe Chief Cornerstone, hoping against hope they would walk worthy and wear His name well. Some have. Many have not.
At my precious sonโs urging I have been reading a lengthy book series, a true saga, a chronicle of a quest for right and for good. The main character, the protagonist, Roland Deschain, frequently instructs those under his tutelage, โDo not forget the face of your father.โ When they do stumble or falter, he pronounces why, โYou have forgotten the face of your father.โ
Indeed.
Rolandโs admonitions and assessments do not speak of God, but the principle applies.
The same holds true for the myriad entrusted with sacred leadership, who, thinking they knew better, flouted wise counsel, forfeited their vocations, and forsook their callings.
They forgot the face of their Father.
Surely, He weeps.
~ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐:๐
~ ๐๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐๐
~ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ก๐ง ๐:๐