When Wrong Is Made Worse

For those who may not have heard or not been following the story of what has been happening in East Lansing at Michigan State University, the athletics doctor for MSU as well as USA Gymnastics was sentenced yesterday to a 40-175 year in prison, as the result of his, for lack of a better word, addiction, to sexual assault and abuse.

Over the past week and a half, 163, I believe was the final count... 163 victim impact statements were read in open court, from girls, many now adult women, who were prey to this evil under the guise of medical sports treatment. The full story is unbelievable and you read elsewhere the details.

Late yesterday afternoon or evening though, the President of MSU resigned, amidst calls and concerns over this one question: how did this go on for so long?

We talked a week ago, about how the merchants got into the temple courts and who authorized their being there. And that's an obvious problem. They didn't belong and were in the public square and nobody called for their removal.

And in a slightly different twist as it relates to this campus tragedy, a different question arises. Who let this happen and swept it under the rug? Someone obviously thought this problem could be dismissed and that the best way to handle it was to remain silent as if it wasn't happening.

Asking if the President of the University knew about it and the argument that was made; that there's a lot of room between the clinic office and the President's office, so to within the church, is there a fair amount of room sometimes, between whether a circumstance makes it to the Pastor's desk.

Decisions are made and must be made and obviously, someone at MSU dropped the ball. And while situations and circumstance might not be so plain and clear as this should have been in regards to handling the matter, there's a great lesson to be learned.

Making a bad decision and hiding it is often more dangerous and disastrous than doing wrong and confessing it from the onset.

On this #deaconThursday, pray for church leadership, at all levels, not just the pastor who sits the public representative of the church. May God give them wisdom and discernment in their decisions and conversations regarding matters great and small. Pray they would have courage to speak up and stand for righteousness and truth. May they not make matters worse by being dismissive when they should be attentive. Pray that they would live and lead lives of conviction and passion to good and positively impact their world, rather than harm and destroy.

For the glory of God.
And the cause of Jesus Christ.
By the power of the Holy Spirit.

- PNC