Ex-FBI director James Comey pleads not guilty

Former FBI director James Comey pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges that he made a false statement and obstructed a congressional proceeding during his testimony before a Senate committee in September 2020. That day, Mr. Comey denied authorizing someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports regarding a probe of Hillary Clinton and her emails when she was the 2016 Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.

When he was indicted in late September, he said, “I am not afraid. My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump.”

If you are convinced that Mr. Comey is being unfairly prosecuted for such opposition, I doubt there is anything I can say today to convince you of his guilt. Similarly, if you are convinced that Mr. Comey is being fairly prosecuted, I doubt there is anything I can say today to convince you of his innocence.

This fact applies to far more than James Comey or partisan politics.

“I cannot save and sanctify myself”

St. Ignatius of Antioch, who was martyred around AD 107, called himself “Theophorus,” which means “God-bearer.” He did not mean that he was unique in this way, even though early tradition suggested that he was one of the children Jesus took in his arms and blessed (Mark 10:13–16).

Instead, his self-designation pointed to the fact that all of us are made by God in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) and thus are the imago Dei, the bearers of the image of God. Tragically, sin has marred this image so that it no longer reflects fully the One who made us.

The good news is that Jesus, by his death and resurrection, has paid the debt of our sin and stands ready to restore us to fellowship and relationship with our Father. When we trust in him as Lord, he makes us God’s children through the “new birth” and manifests himself in our lives (Romans 8:29).

Our part is to submit to his sanctifying grace so that he can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. In today’s reading in My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers explained: “I cannot save and sanctify myself; I cannot atone for sin; I cannot redeem the world; I cannot make right what is wrong, pure what is impure, holy what is unholy. That is all the sovereign work of God.”

However, God cannot give what we will not receive. When we submit to his Spirit each day (Ephesians 5:18), he manifests his “fruit” and shows the world the reality and relevance of our salvation through our sanctified lives and acts.

When we do not, he cannot. And an unbelieving “post-truth” culture finds reason for doubting God when they see the failures of those who claim to be his people.

Robert Morris pleads guilty to sexual abuse

Rev. Robert Morris recently pled guilty to sexually abusing a twelve-year-old girl in Oklahoma in the 1980s. The Texas pastor, who founded one of the largest megachurches in the country, was sentenced to ten years. However, as part of the plea agreement, he will serve only six months in jail and be on probation for the rest of the time.

He must also register as a sex offender and pay $250,000 in restitution.

When he was indicted in March of this year, I wrote in response that his tragic failure illustrates our need for a personal, transformational relationship with the living Lord Jesus. Pastors are just as fallen as the rest of us, though their falls are more public and thus more damaging to the public reputation of the church and our Lord.

This fact does not exempt the rest of us from the same calculus, however.

People who have never met Robert Morris will meet you and me today. Friends, family, colleagues, and fellow students who don’t know his story know ours. If they do not see the tangible, practical difference Christ makes in our lives, they have reason to doubt whether they will see such a difference in their lives. But when they see the living Lord Jesus active and at work in us, they will want what we have and be drawn to his grace.

“Rebels who must lay down our arms”

I know this to be true because it is my story.

My father was active in his church before fighting in World War II, where he witnessed such atrocities that he never attended church again. I grew up with his doubts about God’s relevance and character. As a teenager, I was invited to attend a local church, where I began to see in these believers something that was missing in my life. They had a sense of peace, purpose, and joy I had never experienced.

One Sunday morning, I asked our Bible teacher not how I could be saved or sanctified, but how I could have what they had. She led me to place my faith in Christ, a decision that has transformed my life in every way over the decades since.

On my good days, I return to that commitment and resubmit my heart and life to my Lord. On my bad days, I serve as my own god (Genesis 3:5) and the king of my own kingdom. And before long, everyone who knows me knows the difference.

In The Problem of Pain, CS Lewis observed,

“We are not merely imperfect creatures who must be improved: we are, as Newman said, rebels who must lay down our arms.”

When we do, our King reveals himself through us, extends his kingdom through us, and leads others to make him their king.

Have you laid down your “arms” to your Lord yet today?