I wonder . . .

A friend e-mailed me an obituary notice for an old mutual acquaintance. He was buried today—12 hours ago. He was someone that many people trusted, someone who used them and abused them, someone who never admitted the terrible wrongs he did but rather moved away to a new place after he could no longer pull the wool over the eyes of those he was harming. Hearing that he was dead was a shock (not nearly as much of a shock as finding out all those years ago what kind of person he was, but a shock nonetheless).

I guess I had thought that he would go on living forever somewhere far away from me, continuing his lifestyle of hurting people while getting everything that he wanted from them. I bore him no hatred because of the grace God gave me to forgive him. Instead I pitied him for the life he chose willingly, a life devoid of truth and freedom. How could he truly have known the Son of God, I wondered, since the Son of God came to earth to free us from our sins and he was embracing and wallowing in his. God’s Word clearly says that those who are not living a life of repentance from sin do not know Jesus Christ. I wondered, too, what would happen to his soul when he died—was he truly one of God’s children or was he merely pretending?

The news media has had far too many tales to tell in this past decade of spiritual leaders who have been unmasked as evil men. But the true picture of Christianity cannot be manifested by hypocrites and frauds any more than the fresh and vital goodness of perfectly ripened fruit can be communicated by its rotten counterpart. Their brand of Christianity is not worth having, and I pity them.

Now he is dead, and there is no more wondering where he is or what he is doing or who else he is hurting. Now I just wonder about his wife: what kind of hurt is she feeling? Does she feel free of him? And I wonder about his children: are they denying the truth still? Or are they becoming truth-seekers?