Most recently, Phillip Yancy, a popular Christian writer, admitted to an 8-year affair. But it is not just the popular and famous. In the church of my youth, there was a man who was held up as an example of a fine Christian, but it was discovered that he had been having an affair for years and had left his sick wife for his mistress.  For me, this reminds me that the anchor of our faith must not be rooted in our heroes, our mentors, or friends in the faith. It should not be based on men, even if they are historical or contemporary figures of significance.

Nearly 25 years ago, the ARP church sponsored a minister’s retreat at Bonclarken. Dr. Harry Reeder was brought in to speak, and he drew on the lives of great Christian soldiers, such as Thomas Jackson and Joshua Chamberlain. He made an important statement that has stuck with me through the years. He said, “Make sure that your heroes are dead, that way they will not disappoint you.” His point was to make sure that these men and women had finished the race and done so well. Of course, even then, new historical research could expose some previously unknown issues. 

I think, in general, we must be careful when looking to people as examples and heroes of the faith. I wonder how many lives have been shipwrecked because they focused on a theologian, pastor, leader, or friend as their great example of a Christian, only to see that person fall into grievous sin. The Bible is clear that we are not to put our hope in men. Isaiah 2:22 states: “Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he? In Jeremiah 17, the prophet says that the man who trusts in man is cursed, but the man who trusts in the Lord is blessed. 

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