ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 PULELULU SIULAI 15, 2026

PALOVEPI 24-26; LOMA 12:9-21

If your heart has been softened by God's grace, you will find no joy in anyone's fall - even an enemy's.

Kapau kuo fakamolū ho loto ‘e he kelesi ‘a e ‘Otua, ‘e ‘ikai te ke fiefia ‘o ka tō ha taha - ‘o a’u pe ki ho filii.

If you're a regular user of social media, you have witnessed too much curiosity, interest, and enjoyment in someone else's fall. Posts about the good someone has done receive little interest, but if the news breaks that a well-known Christian leader has fallen, it doesn't take long for hundreds of people to jump on the controversy. We want to know what happened, when it happened, and how it happened. We want the inside details about this person's life. We are quick to give our opinion about the person's character, what he did, and how it was handled. We'll go back to Twitter or Facebook, searching to see whether more has been uncovered. We want to know what other people are saying, and we contemplate adding our own two cents' worth. All of this chatter by people who don't know the person involved and have no ability to help is fueled by a perverse interest, and, yes, a delight in the falls and failures of others. We have particular interest and enthusiasm when the person who has fallen is part of a tribe other than our own. But Proverbs 24:17-18 warns:

Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,

and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,

lest the LORD see it and be displeased,

and turn away his anger from him.

This is not just a social media problem, although social media makes this piling-on dynamic much easier. Digital delight in another's sin and digital gossip are sins of the heart before they are words typed on a screen. When it comes to how we should respond to the fall of another person, even one whom we would consider an enemy of what is right and true, God himself is our model. God, who is perfectly holy in every way and all of the time and who has never compromised his righteous standard, says this about how he views the death of a wicked person:

Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death

of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn

back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezek. 33:11)

God never takes pleasure when a wicked person dies. He responds to the ultimate fall of a person with tenderhearted grace and mercy. He does not delight in the details of anyone's sin. He finds no pleasure in the fact that someone has finally gotten what he deserves. No, he pleads that the wicked would turn from their ways and find his forgiveness and transforming power. Do we model the heart of God? Have our hearts been made tender by his grace? No one gives grace better than one whose heart and life have been changed by its transforming power.

May we not delight in another's fall. With broken hearts, may we pray for an outpouring of God's rescuing grace for ourselves and anyone who has fallen. And may God work in our hearts so that we'll find greater delight in what is good than in what is evil.