Pedestals

We can’t place people on pedestals. We are all human and we will all fall from being placed on a podium that is only reserved for God. This is something a wise woman once told me as I was talking about the disappointment I had by realizing that someone I had looked up to my whole life was indeed flawed like the rest of us. It took me a few weeks to fully accept that realization and to forgive them for nothing they had done wrong because I needed to give them grace for their imperfections.

I saw a church decline because people put too much faith in the people leading the church than the one who the church is for. When people like that fall we immediately discredit them for all the good that they've done but just because they messed up doesn't mean that God's word isn't true because of it. It doesn’t mean that all the good they did was for nothing. They were still stewards of God in that season of their lives. We need to remind ourselves that we are ALL susceptible to failure and letting people down. God is the one to thank for their ministering therefore it doesn’t invalidate the good works that they did. There is nothing in this world that anyone can do to please everyone. I’m still so blessed by their time at the church because their teachings are what brought me to Christ and no one’s opinion of their unfortunate circumstances will ever change my mind.

We tell ourselves well if they fell then we surely can too so what's the point. You never want to preach one thing and then that one thing is what defeats you. That truly is the enemy, lurking and waiting to make us all doubt the goodness of God by letting the one thing we preach or fight the hardest for tear us personally down. For me, it’s my marriage. I have always been a huge advocate of making a marriage work no matter what. Like I quoted in my very first blog post “Marriage is not about love, it’s about commitment” and even though my story is rather bumpy I still want to see all marriages thrive! I didn’t let my view of marriage become pessimistic because of my personal experience and that’s because God's word is true and life-giving and doesn’t cancel out when things go wrong.

I started taking on a lot recently where I hope I am showing up and doing good in people's lives but this new sense of purpose also scares me a little. I do not doubt that God called me to it and that He will guide me through what he has for me to do but I also still don’t want to let people down. I don’t want them to be discouraged by the fact that I am still human and am the furthest thing from perfect. I don’t want them to feel me making convictions in their hearts and then become angry when they see me mess up because I surely will.

Ephesians 2:8-9 -

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I often think about the day that my boys will realize that I hold more flaws than they were ever aware of therefore I pray to be as open and honest with them as I can. To know that we all make mistakes but our value to God does not depreciate when we do. Let us all remember that even those who get held in the highest positions, Pastors, or Leaders in any area of a church are still just people like me and you and deserve just as much grace as we tend to give to the people who are outwardly broken.