I haven’t really touched on the #JohnCrist situation because, I mean I don’t want to use waves hands wildly but *waves handed wildly* there is already a plethora of voices handling it. But @TheJeditor had some tweets the other day that got me thinking. 1

Awhile back @matthewsmithUS had some great tweets about how a fallen pastor with the desire for restoration should be serving. Hint: it’s not at the pulpit. 2

With the weird “Christian celebrity” trend we see a lot of fallen men (and maybe women but I mostly see men) trying to get back to their former positions or in a similar place after “repentance.” Here, I think we see a major lack of understanding of repentance. 3

And not only repentance, but in that we see a lack of trust in God after a career is taken away due to consequences of sin. I think a lot about Angela Yuan’s response when @christopheryuan was kicked out of dental school. 4

Their hearts weren’t worried about Christopher becoming a dentist. Their hearts were concerned about him following Christ. Why then, are these fallen celebrities not trusting that God, in his almighty power and purpose, cannot supply a different perhaps less famous career path? 5

Is it because modern Christianity is teaching us not to completely Trust God (y’all need to read Bridges)? But also, is modern Christianity teaching us what true repentance looks like? I’d have to venture to say it’s not. 6 or 7

Consequences for sin happen. Sometimes they take something we spent years working for. In that case, we must trust that God is bigger than our sinfulness to provide something else. As humbling and painful as that is. And we have to be Content in that.

I don’t plan on listening to Crist. But This whole situation really is highlighting our need for solid biblical teaching. In light of what real repentance should look like, and how little of that is visible.