Much of the SBC world is still reeling this morning from the news that Executive Committee President Frank Page resigned yesterday due to moral failure. I won’t rehash the details here, but you can read Dave Miller’s post from yesterday here. It includes a link to the Baptist Press story.
I love the great hymn Come Thou Fount. The whole song is great, but I have some favorite lines.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, Lord, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
Those are the words in my mind and on my heart today. If Frank Page can wander, so can you. So can I.
It’s why I chose to read from Proverbs 5 this morning in my devotional time with the Lord. While we do not know the specifics of Page’s moral failure, perhaps we all should remind ourselves of these important words today.
My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
listen closely to my understanding
2 so that you may maintain discretion
and your lips safeguard knowledge.
3 Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey
and her words are smoother than oil,
4 in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood
and as sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps head straight for Sheol.
6 She doesn’t consider the path of life;
she doesn’t know that her ways are unstable.
7 So now, sons, listen to me,
and don’t turn away from the words from my mouth.
8 Keep your way far from her.
Don’t go near the door of her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give up your vitality to others
and your years to someone cruel;
10 strangers will drain your resources,
and your hard-earned pay will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 At the end of your life, you will lament
when your physical body has been consumed,
12 and you will say, “How I hated discipline,
and how my heart despised correction.
13 I didn’t obey my teachers
or listen closely to my instructors.
14 I am on the verge of complete ruin
before the entire community.”
My intent here is not to comment on the passage but to heed the warning and exhort you to do the same. None of us should presume that we cannot fall. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27).
Brothers, lets pray for Frank Page, his family, and whoever else may have been involved in his sin. And let’s pray and watch out for ourselves, that God would give us the grace and strength to endure to the end.
