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| Picture taken from the MediaWales web site |
‘The number of possible sexual abuse victims of Jimmy Savile has risen to 300, Scotland Yard has confirmed. It is thought the TV presenter and DJ, who died last year aged 84, may have abused scores of young girls and some boys over a 40-year period’. This is news from the BBC website on the unfolding scandal of a very prominent celebrity who died last year.
For those of us who saw so many of Mr Savile’s exploits on TV, it is difficult to imagine what was happening behind closed doors. How could something so dreadful remain hidden for so long? Equally, how could someone who appeared so good turn out to be so bad? Here was a man whose work for charity was tremendous. Here was a man who seemed to do so much for so many. Who could have imagined what he seems to have been like in private? We will have to wait the full revelation of his crimes and what evidence there is to condemn him.
However, there is a lesson for us all. So often we think that what is done in private doesn’t count. What no one sees and what doesn’t hurt anyone we feel to be of no significance. What people wouldn’t judge us for is OK. But is it? The Bible says, ‘The word of God . . . is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are . . . opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do’. God is watching and is aware of our actions, even our thoughts! Jimmy Savile might have escaped prosecution, should the case against him be proven, but he has not escaped the eye of God. There is a judgement that will fall upon the unrepentant sinner, and that cannot be escaped, even by death. We may not be guilty of the crimes that characterise others. We may not have committed some of the awful atrocities that were played out in previous centuries, but we are still guilty before God. We may have to answer for our sins and failures. However, God has provided a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ who can provide us with a way of escape from the guilt and penalty of our sin. His death at Calvary could provide you, as it has provided me, with forgiveness. Now is the time to come to God, acknowledge your need, and trust Christ.
