The Bible calls all Christians to be above reproach, to have unquestionable character, to have a life that is so consistent that no blame or disgrace can be attached to it. Pastors (and surely any others with a public platform) are expected to exemplify this virtue. When they have been involved in a scandal that, if found out, would bring reproach upon Christ and his church, the best and wisest and holiest thing they can do is to protect Christ’s cause by removing themselves from public ministry. This is a display of true repentance, a proof of genuine remorse.

In recent months the evangelical world has been rocked by a number of scandals, by news of yet more leaders who used their churches or ministries to indulge themselves to the harm of others. These are yet more cases of men who will no doubt stand before God some day and plead all their accomplishments—“Didn’t I preach the gospel for you? Didn’t I encourage many people in their faith? Didn’t I lead many people to the Lord?” Yet despite such pleas, they will surely hear words of the severest condemnation. They will learn in that day that accomplishments stacked as high as heaven are no recompense for character sunk as low as hell.
Their stories are consistent with so many others in a number of details, including this: There were many times at which they should have stepped aside. There were many times at which, had they genuinely loved the Lord and wanted the best for his church, they would have acknowledged their disqualification from any kind of public ministry and then quietly backed away. They would have displayed their love for the Lord by their willingness to abandon the platform they had proven themselves unworthy of. There may still have been scandal, but it would have been tempered by their genuine repentance, their genuine willingness to leave behind all the benefits that came with their platform. It would have been tempered if only they had shown humility by initiating their own departure.
But that’s not the way it goes, is it? No one ever resigns. No one ever steps aside. No one ever has such integrity that he counts himself disqualified and removes himself from public ministry. Or very few, anyway.
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In the book, Comer claims “the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to.” I’ve also heard it said “you become what you behold.” So, what are you giving your attention to? After providing some history of how our world came to this constant state of hurry, Comer offers four practices to help us slow down and refocus our attention on Christ. 

Her phone dings. There is a Slack notification and messages from her daughter demanding to be picked up earlier than planned. She pours some coffee then notices an email from her boss. It looks like he scheduled a last minute meeting to discuss “important developments” in her department. The meeting is in an hour. She checks the time.
Her phone rings. It’s her husband. He sounds distraught. A knock on the office door interrupts her conversation. “Joey just quit,” says the voice on the other side. “What do you want us to do?”
“I’ll be right there,” she replies. “Honey, let me call you right back,” she tells her husband. Her body tries to catch her mind as she hurries to the door.
Her phone dings.
I think we all can relate to this lady. Life is moving at incredible speeds and we don’t know how to push the breaks. We’re not sure where the off ramp is or that one even exists.
The truth is, busyness and hurry has infected our lives like a plague. Not only can it cause physical and mental illness, it can also cause real damage to our spiritual lives.
Dallas Willard called hurry the great enemy of the spiritual life. It makes sense. The busier we become, the more likely we are to miss the reality of God. Our schedules, to-do lists, demands, emails, meetings, and notification after notification can easily derail our intimacy with the Lord.
In his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer provides some tools to help God’s people slow down. Similar to Willard, he believes hurry is an epidemic distracting us from God and making us sick.
In the book, Comer claims “the mind is the portal to the soul, and what you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. In the end, your life is no more than the sum of what you gave your attention to.” I’ve also heard it said “you become what you behold.” So, what are you giving your attention to?
After providing some history of how our world came to this constant state of hurry, Comer offers four practices to help us slow down and refocus our attention on Christ. The practices or rhythms are not new.
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It seems almost weekly that discouraging news of comes from various corners of Christ’s Church. Apostasy, discipline, closures, resignations, and divisions all cause much suffering in the heart and mind of the one who loves Christ. Has God cast off forever? Has he forgotten grace? Has his mercy been undone? Let that not cause you to “pass censure” on Christ, for you only can “judge it by halves.” Jesus is doing a glorious work, even in the midst of these discouragements.

What is Christ doing in his church? What are the ways that we should interpret the–sometimes dark–providences of God in building, reforming, censuring, or comforting the church? We are not as skilled as we ought to be in judging the work of Jesus in our midst; and that’s always been the case.
Isaiah 53:4b says, “..yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.” This verse demonstrates that when each of God’s people first look upon Jesus, we misjudged the work. You saw the savior stricken of God, and yet it was for your salvation, because of your transgression.
Meditating on this verse, James Durham (1622-58) said that this verse stands as a great application, or use, when considering what Jesus is doing in his church. Sometimes we see things that are not there and we misinterpret what Christ is doing among us. Durham writes, this verse is:
“to teach us, when we are ready to pass censure on Christ’s work, to stand still…to correct ourselves… [Christ] gets much wrong[ed] as to his public work, as if he were cruel, when indeed he is merciful; as if he had forgotten us, when indeed he remembers us still; and as to his private work in particular persons, as if he did fail in his promise when he is most faithful, and bringing it about in his own way.Read More
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