"Understanding Why"

He was an humble man, or so it seemed. His kindness was touched by many and his service was unselfish. He was dedicated to the Lord in every regard! I loved the man. For years he had served as an elder in the Lord's church, gently tending the flock. He matched every character of I Pet. 5:1-4. He was one of the few men I had met that truly was a shepherd to the flock and all the flock knew it!
One day he had to step aside from his service in the capacity as a shepherd. He was moving to a new location. The congregation mourned over his departure. I too felt the loss but at the same time I was thrilled that another group of my brethren would be able to share in his kindness and love. It wasn't but a couple of months after his moving I received a phone call from his wife. He had two children married and his third child was a daughter that was 16. His wife was hurting, fighting through pain and tears trying to speak with me. She said, "It's Hank! I don't know what to do." As I questioned, she put piece by piece together for me and told me Hank had come home from his job, packed his clothes and left her and his daughter. I was speechless. Why? For the last five years, Hank had been secretly involved with another woman in this city to where they moved! I was floored. There were no words coming to mind. This shepherd of God's flock, this brother that was an example of humility and love suddenly bolted? It didn't take me long to take a drive, some 6 hours away to see them. A dear friend of mine went with me. We timed it to be at his house when he arrived home from work. His wife had told me he was coming by for the last of his things. We were all sitting, talking and fighting through the tears when he arrived. He was shocked! He quickly exited into his room, picked up a few things and came out. I asked him to sit and talk. He said talking was out of the question and if I was going to share Bible with him, he already knew what it said. He had been through a school of preaching, knew Greek and Hebrew and was well versed in the Bible. I asked him why he was doing this and his response, "Because I am tired of pretending! This is who I am, not some nicey, fake Christian!" Off he went never to been seen again or heard from.
Things like this just hit us like a ton of bricks. Why does it happen? Recently I have witnessed people who claim to love the Lord just do something so contrary to the teachings of Christ. We ask why? I know the answer and it might shock some. They have harbored evil in their hearts for a long period until one day the evil over-rides their conscience to make a bold move. Once the move is made, there is no turing back, no justifying. They simply throw off all the restraints of the Lord so they are free to do as they have always wanted. All those years of so called service to the Lord was nothing but a sham! Their heart was not really in it. They may say it was but one does not suddenly bolt on the Lord and do things so contrary to His will without something going on in the heart for years. They just learned how to play the game of hypocrisy. The Hebrew writer warns us to take care that we do not have an evil, unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12). If we have to be warned, it means the capacity is there within us. Judas is a good illustration of how one can fake it for years and be exposed at his depth of sin. It happens in the church more often than you think. It comes back to one simple teaching from God, "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life." (Gal. 6:7-8) There has been a lot of years of sowing to reap the ungodliness within the heart of a person to make them make such bold moves. I have witnessed preachers, elders and what was thought of as strong members and deacons just do things so ungodly. Remember, no one, not one single person on this planet will mock God, faking, thinking they are getting away with anything. Just watch and when something happens that shock us, there you will find what they have been sowing to and it has been going on for a long time!