Guarding Against Moral Failure
Moral failure is so much broader of an issue than staying out of bed with people you're not married to. To be honest, moral failure is so much more than just a sexual issue. It's an issue that seeps into our finances, our truth-telling and where we go to on the internet. In today's society, it is so much harder to walk in moral integrity for a million reasons, but below are six reasons that I think makes it much easier to fall into moral failure:
- There are countless avenues to secretly access questionable media.
- Society defines an affair as intercourse, but an affair truly begins in the emotions long before it hits the bedroom.
- Our dating system in America is dress rehearsal for divorce.
- We now have a frightening ability to live private lives.
- Marriage in our society is no longer seen as sacred.
- We allow ourselves to have our emotional needs met by other people apart from Jesus and our spouse.
Why Great Men Fall, is an amazing book by Wayde Goodall that tackles this issue of why incredible leaders fall into moral failure. I want to highlight just 3 of the minefields that he talks about in his book that make us more susceptible to allowing ourselves to fall into some form of moral failure.
- Do I have the ability to compartmentalize my moral choices?
- Do I handle stress in a healthy way?
- Do I handle power well?
This is the big one! It is incredibly dangerous to bottle up sin and allow it to be pushed out of our mind. In ministry you have to compartmentalize. You can't wear your pastor hat home to your wife and kids, or even around your friends. But when it comes to moral choices, it becomes incredibly frightening.
Stress might one the biggest catalysts that lead to moral failure. Nothing else drains our tanks much more than stressing out. Often times, when we don't have healthy ways to de-stress, we unload our stress in compromising ways. For me, I have to find healthy ways to relieve and refill my personal energy. I don't know what it looks like for you, maybe it's sitting on your back porch reading a book, or taking a drive by yourself on a nice day, but whatever it is, find it and follow through with it. Getting rid of your mental stress might be one of the most proactive ways you can safely guard against moral failure.
A lot of people these days can't survive their own success. Jesus nails the idea of being, "powerful" by saying that whoever is going to be great must be the servant of all. I would hope that people who knew me years ago, knew me as a loving person who served other people and 50 years later they would still see that genuine love and willingness to serve others.
It would so make me smile if you took the next couple of minutes to reflect and journal on these questions. In a society that does not put much weight on morality, thanks for being leaders determined to be wholeheartedly devoted to living a life of integrity.
Moral failure is so much broader of an issue than staying out of bed with people you're not married to. To be honest, moral failure is so much more than just a sexual issue. It's an issue that seeps into our finances, our truth-telling and where we go to on the internet. In today's society, it is so much harder to walk in moral integrity for a million reasons, but below are six reasons that I think makes it much easier to fall into moral failure:
- There are countless avenues to secretly access questionable media.
- Society defines an affair as intercourse, but an affair truly begins in the emotions long before it hits the bedroom.
- Our dating system in America is dress rehearsal for divorce.
- We now have a frightening ability to live private lives.
- Marriage in our society is no longer seen as sacred.
- We allow ourselves to have our emotional needs met by other people apart from Jesus and our spouse.
Why Great Men Fall, is an amazing book by Wayde Goodall that tackles this issue of why incredible leaders fall into moral failure. I want to highlight just 3 of the minefields that he talks about in his book that make us more susceptible to allowing ourselves to fall into some form of moral failure.
- Do I have the ability to compartmentalize my moral choices?
- Do I handle stress in a healthy way?
- Do I handle power well?
This is the big one! It is incredibly dangerous to bottle up sin and allow it to be pushed out of our mind. In ministry you have to compartmentalize. You can't wear your pastor hat home to your wife and kids, or even around your friends. But when it comes to moral choices, it becomes incredibly frightening.
Stress might one the biggest catalysts that lead to moral failure. Nothing else drains our tanks much more than stressing out. Often times, when we don't have healthy ways to de-stress, we unload our stress in compromising ways. For me, I have to find healthy ways to relieve and refill my personal energy. I don't know what it looks like for you, maybe it's sitting on your back porch reading a book, or taking a drive by yourself on a nice day, but whatever it is, find it and follow through with it. Getting rid of your mental stress might be one of the most proactive ways you can safely guard against moral failure.
A lot of people these days can't survive their own success. Jesus nails the idea of being, "powerful" by saying that whoever is going to be great must be the servant of all. I would hope that people who knew me years ago, knew me as a loving person who served other people and 50 years later they would still see that genuine love and willingness to serve others.
It would so make me smile if you took the next couple of minutes to reflect and journal on these questions. In a society that does not put much weight on morality, thanks for being leaders determined to be wholeheartedly devoted to living a life of integrity.
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Lovingly,
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Lovingly,
