In a small church where a family is visiting, an offering box on the windowsill caught the attention of a boy. Being immature, noticing that people would put money into the box through the hole on the top, he secretly came to the box and tried to bring out the money inside it. Because he could not take the money out, the boy began to think about how he can get the money.
After a few minutes, this little child made a thin wire into a small hook, which he put into the box from the hole.
What would do you say about what this boy did? You may think that the immature boy lacks education.
When you hear a pastor or a renowned shepherd who has done something similar, will you think it is out of ignorance?
Two days ago, I saw a piece of news about a famous pastor who was reported to have committed embezzlement by illegally possessing the church's articles personally. The news was trustworthy with names and evidences included in the report. I will not discuss about its authenticity in this article; but, I will discuss the reason why such things happen. What kind of people are likely to become greedy? How can the church prevent this from happening?
First, why did corruption occur in the church? People are deceitful above all things, and there are wheat and tares in the church. Some people say spiritual words with similar vague attitude such as "Let God decide it." Those who speak this way may refuse to accept suggestions in order to avoid facing the problem or they do not care about the subject matter. However, if you have a thief steal your property, will you sit still?
According to Genesis 2-3, after God made Adam and Eve, He let them watch and repair the Garden of Eden which was their home. They have been authorized by God to watch and take care of their own home. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus repeatedly used metaphors to show a similar truth that when the Lord went out, he has put his servants in charge of his home. All these examples tell us that the people of God are responsible for taking care of the house of God! When the owner, or in this case God, is not at home, it is the time when the people can examine God's faithfulness. This is also the main reason why God has allowed such man-made event to happen in the church.
Next, let us look at what kind of people are more likely to be tempted in the church.
Judah, one of the chosen twelve disciples of the Lord Jesus and was aware of the function of money, found it tempting for him managed finance. We dare not judge whether Judah had a pure heart when he believed in the Lord. But since he was chosen by God, we guess that Judah has a pure heart in the early days.
But why did Judah, who abandoned the faith, become a model of those corrupted who sold the Lord for money? Because of his rights and convenience, his love for the Lord was changed gradually to love material things in reality. From the current corruption case, we see that all the criminals, like Judas, have convenient conditions and on the basis of faith, they understand that they should not sin before they sin. However, why did they ignore the law and commit sins in the end?
According to the Bible, man's temptation in the world can be divided into lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of this life. These extremely tempting things are powerful and can destroy a man's self-control. Paul said in his Epistle that he could make the determination to do good, but he could not carry it out. Now that a great saint has been troubled by this, how much power should ordinary people have to resist it? People were born with the weakness to resist the law. As a result, Judas, who had followed Jesus, became a sinner forever because of the temptation.
Judah's corruption also shows us that corruption is extremely intractable. After Judah had the idea of committing a crime, even though Jesus reminded him three times to try to save him, he did not change his thought.
Corruption occurs in two types of people: those without faith and believers who betray their faith. The first type of people is not scary; but, the second type of people who pretend to have faith is scary.
To establish a pure faith is fundamental to preventing corruption. The society has issued strict laws to combat corruption, which is effective in threatening people. But the law is not effective in preventing people from committing sins. Similarly, the law could not prevent people from developing the thoughts of committing crimes. Neither can the law do anything before the actual crimes are exposed. Only strong faith can prevent crimes and help people to resist committing crimes.
About the author: Song of faith, a believer in the Christian Church of Liaoning, Eastern China.
Translated by Alvin Zhou
