Overcoming Moral Failure: Picking up the Pieces

By Gordon S. Froese

Have you ever felt entrapped or snared by some bad behavior? Although what youre doing feels good, deep in your heart you know it is wrong. Unable to escape the trap youve created for yourself, you feel as though there is no way out and no one to turn to for help.

In Overcoming Moral Failure: Picking Up the Pieces, author Gordon Froese helps you understand how you arrived where you are and what you need to do to find relief and recovery from a life that is broken. For believers in the God of the Bible, this message resonates with the truth of the Scriptures, while nonbelievers may find that the God of the Bible has an astounding amount of insight into the behavior and misbehavior of human beings. Froese offers insights based not only the results of research and study, but also on his own real-life moral failure and recovery.

This guide offers an open and frank discussion of moral failure and presents ways to recover from it. God can restore anyone who is willing to seek restoration Gods way; it can be a reality when there is true repentance and a willingness to do whatever it takes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Feb 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781490899893

Gordon S. Froese

Gordon S. Froese was a successful dentist and family man. He also led a double life for many years while hiding an extramarital affair. Upon exposure, he became broken in every area of his life; through the complete brokenness of his will and humility before God, however, the fractured pieces of his life were pulled back together. He and his wife, Mary, live in Moses Lake, Washington. This is his first book.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The Anatomy of Moral Failure

T o begin we must have an understanding of what moral failure is and how it happens. While there are many examples of moral failure, none is more helpful than that of the story of Achan in the Bible in Joshua, chapter 7.

The context is the Israelites’ siege of Jericho. In Joshua 6:17–19, the whole city of Jericho was to be devoted to Jehovah, especially the precious metals and other articles of value. This means they were to be placed in the treasury of the Lord. Achan violated this edict, disobeying the command of God. Moral failure often involves taking or appropriating for ourselves that which does not belong to us.

His confession is particularly enlightening. In Joshua 7:19–21 Achan says, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: when I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and, behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it.

Let’s take a closer look at Achan’s confession. First he says, I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. He admitted, and we must also admit, that sinning is against the Lord God. When King David sinned by committing adultery, he said Against thee, thee (God) only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight (Psalm 51:4). We might ask if he didn’t sin against the woman, her husband, and his own wife as well as God. Well, yes. But when I sin against anyone, God takes it personally; therefore, my sin ultimately is the activity of my will against the will of God. While the effect of a sin is felt by those around us, sin is against God.

Yes, Achan had sinned, but besides admitting that he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel, Achan confessed to how he sinned. He specifically used four verbs that are very instructive: saw, coveted, took, and hid. Commit these to memory! When moral failure occurs, it almost always falls upon these lines and in that order.

Achan first looked and saw something attractive. Even though God had expressly forbidden taking these things, Achan looked at them long enough to consider what advantage they might provide for him. Then he went from just looking and contemplating or appreciating them to coveting them. He wanted them, in spite of God’s command and the fact that they were not his to take. The next step was taking them. He took for himself that which belonged to God. It naturally follows that once we disobey, stealing from God or others, taking what does not belong to us or even behaving in a way that is disobedient to God’s will, then we have to hide the stuff, the act, the misbehavior, or the moral failure to avoid exposure and