Josiah Road

When the World Lets You Down

posted by Jonathan Frank 25Aug

I love Facebook because I’ve found it to be a great tool for keeping in touch with individuals that I’ve lost contact with over the years. The other day I tried to do just that, and looked up an old friend of mine from work. It had been a long time since we’d seen each other, but I remembered him to be a real stand-up, positive, Christian guy. But I quickly found that his profile pointed to a person that was a far cry from the friend I once knew. As I scrolled down and continued to look through his page, my heart hurt at the realization that my friend seemed to have lost his way.

The situation I described isn’t uncommon, but it strikes you in a different way when the person in question is someone you held in high regard and looked to as an example, as was the case here. I felt disillusioned, saddened, and let down.

Similarly, I once attended a church that was turned upside down when a staff member resigned amid rumors of an affair. This was somebody that people trusted and looked up to, and they felt as though their trust had been betrayed. Most recently, America watched a US senator and former presidential candidate own up to having an affair on his wife, while she was suffering with cancer.

I’ve come to find that if I place a human on a pedestal like that, I will be setting myself up for disappointment because we’re all fallen and sinful. My pastor will let me down, my parents will disappoint, my friends will have their indiscretions, but God will always be my unfailing hope, a rock that cannot be moved. His Word promises this in Hebrews 13: 8 where it is written, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

I must come to the realization in my own life, that people will stumble and sin just as I do, and I can’t let that cause me to become disenchanted with my faith, or hinder me from pursuing my relationship with Christ, but rather I must fix my eyes solely on Him, trusting that when everyone else falls, He will remain.