Rick Warren is being tested.
If you don’t know who he is, he’s the author of The Purpose Driven Life, and possibly the most influential pastor of our day.
On April 15th 2013, Rick’s son, Matthew, committed suicide.
In addition to the unimaginable grief of losing a child, here’s how Rick Warren is being tested:
Once the news of his son’s death came out, the blogosphere exploded with every form of venom that could be mustered.
- They accused Rick of being an absentee father.
- They accused his son of being a homosexual, and the evil bigoted teaching of the Bible is what killed him.
- They found a way to heap every kind of vile and untrue accusation upon him, while safely hiding behind the anonymous wall of the internet.
They have poured salt into the open wounds of a grieving family.
The story deepened a few days later when it came out that Rick’s son committed suicide using a gun that was purchased illegally over the internet. Some unknown person sold Rick Warren’s son an illegal gun and now he’s dead.
This would be enough to make any man rage against the bloggers, rage against the illegal gun sellers, and rage against the world. Even as I relate this story, I am angry.
What did Rick do? Here’s what he tweeted on April 11th 2013
Someone on the internet sold Matthew an unregistered gun.
I pray he seeks God’s forgiveness. I forgive him
Later that day, he tweeted Jesus words from Matthew 6:14
If you forgive men when they sin against you, your Heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you don’t…
I grieve for Rick and Kay Warren, but I am also very proud of them. They put the scripture into practice, and publicly honored the Lord with their attitude of forgiveness.
In this case, forgiveness must have been excruciatingly painful, but in His power they did it.
They did it.