Lesson’s I Have learned from Ted Haggard
There is no end to the comments you hear when a great leader falls. Immediately the finger pointing begins. When news of Ted Haggard’s failure hit the media, it was no different. And there is something about being a respected spiritual leader that seem to make failure that much more dramatic. But the truth is, evil runs through every heart. None of us is beyond failure, even great failure.
All in all, even though it shocks us when we hear such news, we need not be that horrified, because it could have been us. And my prayer is that we would learn from these instances. Here are a few things that I have learned from Ted Haggard.
1. Don’t let your weaknesses stop you from pursuing your destiny. Ted Haggard had a weakness in his life, but he kept pursuing the vision God gave him. There is no doubt that there were moments in his life when that translated into a raw fear that he wasn’t good enough to be doing what he was doing. At least it would in me. Satan is always trying to condemn us and tell us we are not good enough to make the cut. There are few of us who haven’t let fear like this cripple us in our pursuit of life. It seems that we are quick to point the finger at ourselves, and often we let those demonic accusations stop us in the pursuit of our destiny. Either that or we think we are perfect and refuse to see our weaknesses at all. But I doubt Ted fits that category.
2. Don’t hide your weakness and pretend all is well. But even though we see our weaknesses, it doesn’t ensure that we deal with them properly. Here too, fear of what others will think of us often prevents us from going to people that could be of great help to us. Jesus teaches us to bring things to the light so that we could be healed from those things. And it is scary. Do I trust Jesus and my Christian brothers enough to venture out and confess my weaknesses to them? Confession such as this in a fellowship of brothers is healing for the soul. God promises Healing to those who will confess and pray together. Ted chose to bear his weakness alone and it ruined him.
3. Don’t speak harshly of those that struggle in areas we ourselves struggle. But maybe the greatest wrong he did, was to be so harshly outspoken about those that struggle with those same things. Again, Jesus tells us that we will be judged by the same judgement we use to judge others. The right wing evangelical political movement has been very outspoken against the gay movement. And though I agree that homosexuality is sin, trying to legislate others to live like I believe, that is harsh. It is one thing to defend my freedom of religion, it is quite another to try to legislate it into power. The religious right has forgotten that the gay movement is driven by only a few people, and that most of those are out only to be accepted because they haven’t been able to change, even though they have tried. The important lesson here is that if we will judge others as knowing better but simply not living up to it, then they will judge us in our failure as hypocrites too. Maybe this is why I notice the harsh comments that are spoken about Ted Haggard. St. Paul says to be careful not to judge the weak brother less we fall ourselves. For he who thinks he is stronger than that is deceived.
4. Forgive others. In any case, Haggard seems to have embraced his humility and seems to have forgiven the person who has brought it into light. It can’t have been an easy pill to swallow. But forgiving that person is the first step in admitting that ultimately, this was his own failure. And I believe that God will forgive him. When we are genuine in our repentance, God is quick in offering His forgiveness. But when we do not forgive, neither can God. Have you ever wondered why? I have. And what comes to mind is that since God has taken the world’s sin on his shoulder the sins we find so hard to forgive are actually owned by God. And He is simply saying, if you can’t forgive sins I have taken on my shoulders then I can’t take your sins either. In other words, when we don’t forgive someone who has sinned against us, we don’t forgive God because he took those sins on Himself at the cross. And if we can’t forgive him, we remain alienated from Him. But that is just my thought on it.
5.Don’t give up. And whatever you do, don’t give up. You may have failed, but don’t let the devil convince you that you are beyond redemption. Sometimes it seems society would love for you to believe this too. Many people speak these things into existence: “Once a failure, always a failure. You can’t change.” Those are lies. We know that there is a battle for our soul, and if failure is permanent then we are already all doomed. So never give up.
6.Trust in God’s grace. Jesus loves us, and he knew that we were not beyond failure. He knew this already when He chose to die in mine and your place. And even though the devil would have us believe that we can never overcome, or never change, God’s grace is sufficient for us. In other words, no matter how long it takes, whether years or even a lifetime of battle, Hid grace is sufficient for us. That doesn’t mean temptation will disappear, or the tendency for sin doesn’t exist, but it means that we can live above that. We need not subject ourselves to such a lifestyle. And if we fail, his mercies are new every morning and Christ believes that we can overcome.
7.Don’t let your experiences define truth. Many times we allow experience define truth for us. And when we fail, it seems impossible that we will ever overcome. “If 50% of the people experience this than it must be normal.” I can’t even begin to tell you how often I hear that. Or we point at poor people and say that “see, God doesn’t want everyone to be successful.” Or the sick, “he died and wasn’t healed from sickness; that means God doesn’t want everyone to be healed.” Wake up to this truth: GOD’S WILL DOESN’T ALWAYS HAPPEN HERE ON EARTH. He says that He would that everyone was saved, and yet many die without salvation. He hates sin, and hates it when a girl gets raped, and yet it happens. God doesn’t endorse that. But we live in a world where we often live in ways that prevent him from seeing His will happen. (No, I am not a Calvinist, If God lives in an eternity outside of time then neither can He know the future. Because the future doesn’t yet exist. He will yet create it.) Often, God CAN’T do what he would love to do because we have chosen to live without him, or outside of His will. This is why it is important that we understand, our experiences don’t equal truth. And I admire Ted Haggard for say that he still believes what he taught, even though he failed to live up to his own standards. That is admitting we have sinned and to be able to accept God’s forgiveness, we must realize our need for it.
Having said this, doesn’t in any way shape or form mean that I agreed with all Ted Haggard said or what he believed. Fact is, there are things I know I disagree with him. But, being a sinner doesn’t mean we remain that way. Christianity is all about realizing that we are sinners in desperate need of being transformed into Saints. And we are supposed to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ while in that process. Our spirits are saved in and instant, but our souls are saved by the way we then live. And our souls include our thinking, our emotions, and our will.
