I was at a service once where a number of preachers were to be ordained. The preacher that evening (I can't remember the whole message) at one point had folks "Turn to their neighbor" ... and say, "I'm on your side." The theme was one of unity.
After the ordination, the ministers in the congregation were all asked to go through a receiving line of the men who had been ordained. Being shy and awkward myself and terrible at making small talk, I said to one of the men while shaking his hand - "I'm on your side." His face fell dramatically. He obviously didn't make the connection between what I had just said and the sermon that had been preached earlier. I had the distinct impression that he feared me and feared that I was on to something.
I was greatly troubled by this encounter but I never said anything to anyone. The guy's face looked just like a little boy who had been busted for some wrong doing. Within a few months his moral failure became publicly known. It seemed that I was the only one to have "discerned" anything before hand.
This guy had a family member in a position of leadership who suffered backbiting and such over this affair. "Why didn't he discern the sins?" people asked. His response was
1 Corinthians 13:5, "... Love thinketh no evil."
When we choose to work closely with people we go through various stages of letting down our guard and suspicions and simply embrace them as they are. This does make us vulnerable to deceptions and lies. That is why friendships are considered to be such "sacred" things. Friends see us without our armor and defenses up. This may also be the reason so many people in leadership fail to discern the sins of their close associates.
It doesn't mean that the gifts of the Spirit are absent. It would appear to mean that only certain gifts are present at times. "There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all" (
1 Corinthians 12:6).
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