Recently, Wes has been watching televangelists. Not to pick up pointers on preaching, of course, but to… well, actually, I don’t know why he’s been watching them. The only purpose these money-charged, money-grabbing, money-loving programs serve is to frustrate and annoy him… and to bother me.

But I’m only bothered. There once was a time when this kind of thing made me unspeakably angry. Not even because ungodly men were disparaging the name of the Lord but because their witness (or apparent LACK of witness, since they don’t seem to have ever witnessed any of Christ’s redeeming work) was surely turning hundreds of thousands of millions of people away from God. How dare they! How dare they, sinful, unholy men, keep people from God!

Now, though… I’m not so sure. Yes, it’s heartbreaking to see how earnestly people want to believe in these men. Yes, it’s heartbreaking to see how they give all the money they can, are told that they don’t receive a blessing because they don’t believe/don’t give enough, and keep on giving and trying, trying, trying, all in a vain and pointless cycle. Yes, it’s heartbreaking that people are being deceived.

But, I think we give (or at least I myself have given) too much authority and power to men who don’t serve Christ. Can God be limited by the sin of people? No. If it is God’s will, God’s purpose, to redeem someone who is lost, will all of the bad “witnesses” in the world be able to deter God from saving? Will God allow someone to perish and be separated from Him for all eternity because a mere man misled them? I can’t reconcile that view of God’s mercy (and it IS unwarranted mercy, as we are all deserving of eternal separation and nothing more) and God’s sovereignty to this idea that I once had that my mistake, the mistake of some televangelist, the mistake of a fallen preacher, the mistake of a someone who claims to know Christ but doesn’t live for Him… that it could thwart the will of God.

What am I saying with all of this? I don’t think that my heart has been hardened or turned cold. When I watch these multitudes of people being led astray by unbiblical theology and my heart isn’t broken, I don’t think it’s indicative of how cold and unfeeling I am towards the lost. If anything, I feel MORE for them because I know that even as they are, they cannot be separated from the love of God which pursues them with a passion and a sovereign force that CANNOT be moved or swayed by human will.

I want to know Him better so that I can have the privilege of being used as a part of this powerful and amazing will of God, who must, can, and WILL prevail. Although He is burdened with the actions, cares, and lives of men, He is by no means defined by them. He is beyond our miniscule definitions. I am encouraged.

I was challenged by a first grader today. The thought for the day was “God is real.” And my question was, “How do you know that God is real?” After several answers ranging from the very true to the extremely bizarre, one little guy responded, “Because the Bible says so, and everything in the Bible is true.” I told him that was the best answer I had ever heard to any question. Ever. I’m challenged by my little first grade friend to know God better, to know His Word more fully, and to be a part of what He’s working in the lives of those around me.