No, this is not an encouragement for abuse. It’s a reminder to take off the kid’s gloves. Addiction of any kind is serious business, yet we tread so lightly. We think that because our people are steeped in sin we must be fragile and can break at any moment. While that can certainly happen, a pastor who is involved in their congregation’s lives and has their best interest in mind, will challenge, reproach and attempt to correct a behavior.
Pastors are to speak truth at all times. Honest, sincere, hard-core truth. Truth that can come across as an affront to a person caught in sin. They may think that an injustice is being done to them by your condemnation, but the reality is that the sin is the injustice and the condemnation is on the behavior, not the person. This is about love after all, isn’t it.
So take off the kid’s gloves and lay the holy beat down!