Seems like I can’t pick up my phone without another headline of a leader accused of sexual misconduct. It’s all pervasive, with no industry or person immune – – politics, entertainment, education, even the Church, have all been affected.
There’s a spirit of ovation for the perpetrators being called to the carpet for their actions, but as a believer, I know God isn’t celebrating. Sin is sin, and it pains God’s heart whether the public knows about it or not. It is as awful the moment it comes to light as the moment it happened.
May our prayer ever be like that of King David, who suffered failure, but was, ultimately, known as a man after God’s own heart:
Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and never tell lies. They will receive the Lord’s blessing and have a right relationship with God their savior. Psalm 24:3-5 (NLT)
God, give us pure hearts and clean hands. Keep our hearts and motives pure, because if we lose that, we lose everything; and we are nothing without your Spirit.
I love this quote from Edmund Burke reminding us that we are each only as strong as our greatest weakness:
“Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites,—in proportion as their love to justice is above their rapacity,—in proportion as their soundness and sobriety of understanding is above their vanity and presumption,—in proportion as they are more disposed to listen to the counsels of the wise and good, in preference to the flattery of knaves. Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” Edmund Burke 
Knowing that no one is immune to sin, we would do well to inspect the integrity and stability of our moral codes. We must commit more strongly to the spiritual disciplines of time in the Word, prayer, and living a life of worship worthy of the One who saved us from our sin.
For leaders—whether in the public or private sector—build a stalwart circle of accountability. Surround yourself with wise, trusted brothers and sisters with whom you can be transparent and give access to every area of your life. Let’s help steer each other away from missteps that could disqualify us from the holy work we have been called to.
