Most of the time character flaws hide below the surface invisible to the casual observer. People take great care to make sure no one sees their problems or shortcomings. But if not dealt with, these invisible infections mature into very public diseases.
Several years ago a high-profile preacher was involved in a very public scandal that caused great shame and pain for him and his family, ruined his ministry, and disgraced the body of Christ. After his illicit activity was revealed on national news, his congregation sat in shock and disbelief as he delivered an apology on Sunday morning that began like this: “I am so sorry. I am sorry for the disappointment, the betrayal, and the hurt. I am sorry for the horrible example I have set for you. I have an overwhelming, all-consuming sadness in my heart for the pain that you and I and my family have experienced over the past few days. I am so sorry for the circumstances that have caused shame and embarrassment to all of you.”
How does a man, so mightily used by God, fall like this? It happens one pea patch at a time, one unprotected, seemingly insignificant area of life that is not consecrated to God at a time. A little compromise here, a lustful imagination there. Every concession seems so inconsequential. Sin begins as a cute little pet, but it grows into a beast that is never satisfied. As it is fed, it only becomes bigger and hungrier; gratification becomes more difficult, and soon the pet has become the master. In the end you will either kill the beast or it will kill you. The devil is very patient. He is willing to wait, sometimes for many years, while sin matures. Once the enemy has established a stronghold in someone’s life, he will not stop until he has destroyed that person or until that person destroys the stronghold.
Imagine if this minister could have heard himself delivering that speech many years before this public scandal took place. Imagine if he could have looked into the future and seen himself on that fateful Sunday morning telling his tearful congregation, “I am a deceiver and a liar. . . . ” Imagine if he could have seen the pain and the heartache that would grow from those small, early compromises. What if he could have seen the tears in his wife’s and children’s eyes? If he could have seen the end from the beginning, I think a righteous anger would have arisen in his soul, and he would have stood his ground and fought for every inch of territory.
I’ll never forget a sermon I heard when I was in seminary from our college president, Michael L. Brown, PhD. He preached about a fascinating word that appears in the Hebrew Scriptures sixty-one times; it is acharit (pronounced “a-kha-reet”). There is really no single word equivalent for it in English, but the literal meaning of it is “the final or ultimate end.” It speaks of the backside or hinder parts, the part that is to follow, the part that is to come, the final end. We find this word used in Psalm 37:37–38: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end [acharit] of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end [acharit] of the wicked shall be cut off.”
The German monk Thomas à Kempis is well known to have said, “Happy is the man who hath the hour of his death always before his eyes.” But if he would have been Hebrew, he probably would have said it this way: “Happy is the man who hath the hour of his acharit [his final end] always before his eyes.” This would have been a better quote anyway since there is a final end beyond the hour of our death and beyond the grave.
I heard someone say recently that he was shocked when he picked up the newspaper and found his own name in the obituary section. Apparently another guy in town had the same name as this gentleman. But when he saw his name among the deceased, it really made him think about the end of his own life. Imagine that you had the opportunity to write your own obituary. What would you put in it? How would you want it to read? Have you stopped to think about your acharit?
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke once told me that as a young man, he was kneeling at the altar in a pastors’ prayer meeting next to an elderly servant of God. He overheard the old man weeping as he asked God to please forgive him for the unclean things he had allowed into his life. This moved the young evangelist deeply. Reverend Bonnke said he moved away to another spot where no one could hear, and he cried out to God with a prayer of his own. “Lord,” he said, “help me to mind in the beginning what matters in the end.”
As I write this book, Evangelist Bonnke is seventy-two years of age and has never been involved in a scandal or a fall. I heard someone ask him once, “Is there anything in your life you would do differently?” “No,” he said, “I have no regrets.” What a wonderful example for the next generation!
Oh, my friend, may we purpose in our hearts to live life in such a way that we will not have to weep in the acharit over uncleanness and sin that we allowed into our lives. “I urge you,” Paul said, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph. 4:1, NIV). Let us determine to live a life worthy of the calling, a life of integrity, minding in the beginning what matters in the end.
How does a man, so mightily used by God, fall like this? It happens one pea patch at a time, one unprotected, seemingly insignificant area of life that is not consecrated to God at a time. A little compromise here, a lustful imagination there. Every concession seems so inconsequential. Sin begins as a cute little pet, but it grows into a beast that is never satisfied. As it is fed, it only becomes bigger and hungrier; gratification becomes more difficult, and soon the pet has become the master. In the end you will either kill the beast or it will kill you. The devil is very patient. He is willing to wait, sometimes for many years, while sin matures. Once the enemy has established a stronghold in someone’s life, he will not stop until he has destroyed that person or until that person destroys the stronghold.
Imagine if this minister could have heard himself delivering that speech many years before this public scandal took place. Imagine if he could have looked into the future and seen himself on that fateful Sunday morning telling his tearful congregation, “I am a deceiver and a liar. . . . ” Imagine if he could have seen the pain and the heartache that would grow from those small, early compromises. What if he could have seen the tears in his wife’s and children’s eyes? If he could have seen the end from the beginning, I think a righteous anger would have arisen in his soul, and he would have stood his ground and fought for every inch of territory.
I’ll never forget a sermon I heard when I was in seminary from our college president, Michael L. Brown, PhD. He preached about a fascinating word that appears in the Hebrew Scriptures sixty-one times; it is acharit (pronounced “a-kha-reet”). There is really no single word equivalent for it in English, but the literal meaning of it is “the final or ultimate end.” It speaks of the backside or hinder parts, the part that is to follow, the part that is to come, the final end. We find this word used in Psalm 37:37–38: “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end [acharit] of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end [acharit] of the wicked shall be cut off.”
The German monk Thomas à Kempis is well known to have said, “Happy is the man who hath the hour of his death always before his eyes.” But if he would have been Hebrew, he probably would have said it this way: “Happy is the man who hath the hour of his acharit [his final end] always before his eyes.” This would have been a better quote anyway since there is a final end beyond the hour of our death and beyond the grave.
I heard someone say recently that he was shocked when he picked up the newspaper and found his own name in the obituary section. Apparently another guy in town had the same name as this gentleman. But when he saw his name among the deceased, it really made him think about the end of his own life. Imagine that you had the opportunity to write your own obituary. What would you put in it? How would you want it to read? Have you stopped to think about your acharit?
Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke once told me that as a young man, he was kneeling at the altar in a pastors’ prayer meeting next to an elderly servant of God. He overheard the old man weeping as he asked God to please forgive him for the unclean things he had allowed into his life. This moved the young evangelist deeply. Reverend Bonnke said he moved away to another spot where no one could hear, and he cried out to God with a prayer of his own. “Lord,” he said, “help me to mind in the beginning what matters in the end.”
As I write this book, Evangelist Bonnke is seventy-two years of age and has never been involved in a scandal or a fall. I heard someone ask him once, “Is there anything in your life you would do differently?” “No,” he said, “I have no regrets.” What a wonderful example for the next generation!
Oh, my friend, may we purpose in our hearts to live life in such a way that we will not have to weep in the acharit over uncleanness and sin that we allowed into our lives. “I urge you,” Paul said, “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph. 4:1, NIV). Let us determine to live a life worthy of the calling, a life of integrity, minding in the beginning what matters in the end.
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