It is nearly impossible to try and explain the vastness of the world of sports. From physical fitness, competition, and teamwork, to leadership, merchandising, and downright national pride, sports is big business…huge business. The professional sports industry alone is twice the size of the auto industry and 7 times larger than the movie industry.
Sometimes an issue arises in the world of sports that transcends sports itself. The blog I am writing today will be considered by some as sports related. Although it is within the realm of the sports world, I feel it is more human related.
The dreadful story that has been developing at Penn State for the last week or so has been in my head for days. For those that may not be aware of the story I would suggest reading about it before reading the rest of this blog. Be warned it is graphic and sickening yet it is a story that cannot be avoided.
Within this real-life horror story we find a man in a position of authority and influence that used his power to prey on innocent, at-risk children. We also see legendary leaders above him forever tarnishing their own legacies for failing to respond to the injustices in an appropriate way. Instead of talking about this story directly, I am choosing to make 3 critical observations based on these events.
1. There will always be people in positions of authority that will abuse their power and influence to get what they want.
2. There will always be people that prey on the innocent for their own benefit.
3. There will always be people that know injustice exists, yet do little or nothing to prevent it.
I want to take these three heartbreaking statements and ask myself how I plan on responding to each of them in my own life.
1. There will always be people in positions of authority that will abuse their power and influence to get what they want.
Other than Jesus my favorite Biblical personality has always been David. David had a tremendous love for God yet he was very human. David taught us how to worship yet he also showed us how far we can fall when we don’t cling to the one that we should be worshipping at all times. David used his authority as king to obtain Bathsheba, the object of his desire, he also used authority as commander-in-chief to have Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, murdered on the battlefield. David had one key element that I desire to have. He always turned to the Lord when he failed.
As a senior pastor I have a great deal of autonomy. Sure I have elders and a board of directors and I willingly submit myself to spiritual authority, but none of those people see my heart. It is my responsibility to make sure at the end of each day my heart is pure before God.
Having a pure heart before God is the only way to insure that we don’t use authority for my our benefit.
We can’t go back and rewrite history or change past events but we can make a decision to lead in a way that brings dignity and honor to whatever position of leadership we may hold.
2. There will always be people that prey on the innocent for their own benefit.
My wife is one of my heroes. Not only is she an extraordinary woman of faith who inspires thousands weekly, she is a great mom, wife, and friend. Her faith is nearly unshakable. Few would assume this incredible woman grew up in an environment of sexual abuse. We have been together for 16 years and I stood beside her as she literally went through heartbreaking trials trying to overcome the devastation she endured for so many years growing up as a young child. The abuse she went through began when she was younger than my 9 year old daughter. To imagine someone taking advantage of a child is unconscionable…yet people do it daily. As a matter of fact every 2 minutes someone is sexually assaulted in America.
Deuteronomy 18 actually warns people not to sacrifice their own children to false Gods! That is so messed up I can’t even comment. We have to be aware of these types of people in the world. They exist!
Without becoming a jaded person I believe we can try our hardest to prevent abuse from occurring in the first place. Make it tough on these jokers!
For instance, our kids don’t spend the night with anyone. I don’t care who it is. Do other parents criticize us for that decision? Yes. Do we care? We couldn’t care less. Some of the atrocities that take place against children in particular are created when kids are put in awkward situations and they don’t know how to respond. I was sexually abused as a child myself, once with a relative and once at a friend’s house. I believe we should teach our children how to recognize inappropriate behavior and how to respond.
Sidenote
I am generally referring to American culture although statistics show that 75% of Aboriginal girls under the age of 18 were sexually abused. 75% of Aboriginal victims of sex crimes were females under 18 years of age. 50% were under 14 years of age. Almost 25% were younger than 7 years (Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence, 1999).
We must be aware that these atrocities exist.
3. There will always be people that know injustice exists, yet do little or nothing to prevent it.
It will be a great shock to many when they stand before the throne of God someday and they are judged equally as harshly for what they DIDN’T DO.
We are all very aware of sins of commission. We are taught from the time we are children that taking the Lord’s name in vain is a sin, stealing is a sin, murder is a sin. We get that. What we do not seem to get however, is that we are equally accountable for what we fail to do. We are accountable for not worshipping, for not honoring God with our finances, for not speaking up when people are talking negatively about others.
King Ahab did nothing to prevent the murder of a man that refused to sell him his property. His wife did most of the dirty work in arranging this man’s death but ultimately what we fail to prevent or intervene on behalf of, we become responsible for.
It’s not that people don’t realize that something is wrong. People don’t want to be inconvenienced. We all have been faced with awkward dilemmas where a child was being spanked a little too hard in public and we try to decide whether to say something or not or maybe someone is demeaning another person publically and we want to say something. We are not called to be Batman. We are called to be messengers of hope. People that are being hurt deserve to know about God’s love and hope. If that means intervening at times, so be it. Sometimes that is picking up the phone and calling the police.
I was in a theater in 1995 when a dad was cursing and slapping his son in the face before the film in front of everyone. A very large African-American gentlemen approached him and kindly said, “sir if you slap that boy again in front of me I’m gonna slap you in front of him”. The arrogant father told the man to mind his own business, proceeded to slap his son again and then got his jaws nearly slapped off for 5 minutes straight.
There is a difference between vigilante justice and vigilant justice. One seeks to punish the criminal personally, the other is committed to not only awareness of injustice but actively pursuing justice through legal means.
This year City of Life had an awesome opportunity to partner with Love146.org, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending child slavery and exploitation. A song I wrote was featured on their fundraising CD. One of our friends, Leigh Ramsey spearheads an incredible outreach called She Rescue Home. I am so thankful that there truly are committed people that dedicate their existence to the eradication of injustice.
I believe each person should try and find something to be a part of that makes a difference.
Here are my personal responses to the original statements I made.
1. I always want to leverage my own authority for the benefit of the one’s I am leading.
2. I want to value those that cannot help themselves and make life tough for those that would abuse them.
3. I want to be a part of not just proclaiming what is good and right, but defending it as well.
We shouldn’t allow events like this to make us bitter in life. It doesn’t mean all leaders are bad. It doesn’t mean charity organizations can’t be trusted. It doesn’t mean you can’t trust anybody. It means we must reflect on our own lives and how we can make the greatest difference for God that we can in this short time we have on earth.
As much as our own hearts break for injustice, God’s breaks infinitely more.
Psalm 33:5 says, “The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.”
Christ was sent that through Him ultimate justice could be eternally established.
I want to end my blog with the lyrics of “You Stand”.
For the brokenhearted
For the ones who are alone
For the weary stranger
For the ones without a home
You stand, You stand
For the ones who’ve been oppressed
For the ones without a voice
For the hurt and the abused
For the ones without a choice
You stand, You stand
Your arms are open wide
Your love is abounding
You are our hiding place
With the enemy surrounding
You stand
My sisters, my brothers
All nations, all colors
Lord, for every soul You stand
The hungry, abandoned
Will someday see You standing Lord
You Stand, You stand…
