How can we respond to the Ted Haggard scandal? With purity.

Everyone is talking about Ted Haggard and the scandal he has been embroiled in. Although much damage has been done, I wondered if at least our small community might turn this defeat into a victory.

How? By remembering that Christ's name does not depend on any one man. By seeking to live in the light and having a real fear of hypocrisy in our lives. By stopping to ask if we are trusting in people instead of God. By coming back to and renewing our trust in the Word.

And, perhaps most importantly, may we desire and then genuinely live lives of greater purity ourselves. Let us renew our commitment to purity. May we turn on all the lights, admit to ourselves what needs to be admitted, be accountable, help each other, have abundant grace, and settle for nothing less than lives of holiness.

Let us heed the warning of II Timothy 4 and, in response, desire the weakest consciences we can get, instead of "consciences [that] have been seared as with a hot iron."

And let us claim the victory of Hebrews 9:14, "How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"

Christ has already won the victory! Now may we walk in it.