Adam McLane

Deliver us from evil

If you hang out in Churchland you’ll almost never hear of evil in the church. We cover it up with elder approved statements, letters, forced resignations, cheesy happy, clappy worship songs, smiling sermons, and a heavy dose of denial.

I didn’t have to search very hard for those headlines above. All I did was search the term “youth pastor” on Google News; these were on the first page of results.

Evil exists everywhere, of course. Just because people are Christians doesn’t mean they are absent of sin in their lives. But it boils my blood that the profession I love leads headlines with evil instead of the good that we do.

My point isn’t that youth pastors are evil. Far from it. My point is that we can’t live in denial that there is evil. 

People in your ministry deal with real evil every day. There is real evil in your life. There are people who are out to destroy you. There are forces at work through the tides of relationships that can elevate or destroy you. There are real temptations and moments of failure which can lead your life into horrible directions.

Life is full of temptresses and tempests.

And we need deliverance from this evil every day. And we need to lead people in a way that seeks deliverance from evil, real evil in their lives.

Because at the end of the day– living a happy, clappy, smiley, existence of denial may just be enabling evil. 

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come. 
Thy will be done in earth, 
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us. 
And lead us not into temptation, 
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom,

The power, and the glory,

For ever and ever.

Amen.

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Comments

2 responses to “Deliver us from evil”

  1. angie Avatar
    angie

    This stuff breaks my heart. I looked at a couple of the articles, and it just brings tears to my eyes. I have seen a lot of things these past couple months, and it has just shown me how much on guard we all really have to be. We might look at these stories and think that will never be me, but we are all just  few steps or a few bad choices from doing something that would disqualify us from ministry or deeply hurt the ministries and people we work with. It really has been a sobering thought. And has made me even more aware and more on guard.

    As a funny aside, I laughed at that 3rd headline. Praying on a girl? Is that like when we say loving on?
    Funny typo. But sad story.

    Reply
    1. Adam McLane Avatar
      Adam McLane

      Ah, alas typos will be my death. Thanks for point it out. 

      Reply

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