"It all started out pretty harmless."
For Eve, the craving for more. For Adam, the value of acceptance. For Abraham, a small fib in getting Sarah to say that she was his sister. For King David, deciding to go to his roof top rather than to war. For the rich young ruler, his concern for status. For Sampson, the need to feel wanted or loved.
In each case above, and for hundreds of others, it all started out pretty harmless. Although a red flag may have appeared to an outsider, I guarantee you that most moral failure that happens among Christian leaders or pastors today happens, just as it did back then, under the radar. And the only thing we are left with as the debris begins to clear are those six punishing words, "It all started out pretty harmless."
Following Easter I will be teaching a five week series at WCC entitled, you guessed it, "Harmless."
The purpose of this series is to help us identify the beginning stages of a deceptive heart. I believe that much of what we do in churches today is "reactionary" at best. In other words, we wait until the injury happens before we send in the paramedics. The hope in this series is to address some of the preliminary "signs" that can appear before the damage occurs. I call it a doppler series for our soul.
Mark Batterson, Pastor of National Community Church in D.C., once made this great statement. Mark shared that most sin could be defined as someone trying to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. People don't start out by thinking that what they are doing is pure evil. In fact, it all seems pretty harmless at first. But that is precisely the origin of how it all starts. I need love, I crave acceptance, I desire attraction, are all legitimate needs and must be addressed. But the key is how we attempt to satisfy these desires - the real motives.
I have watched too many leaders and pastors, including myself, walking as close to the edge with the opposite sex, or the need for success among peers, or to be valued in their career, only to discover months down the road that just as little pieces of Styrofoam sticks to the hand, clinging by static to stay on, so too, the magnetic force of sin to the unchecked heart.
Yep...it all started out pretty harmless. But the way it ended.....
