She Is Still a Soul: What We Need to Remember About Lindsey Clancy

by Stephanie A. Mayberry

My approach to the Lindsey Clancy case is probably different than most. And, yeah, it’s probably unpopular.

I am not proud to admit that I briefly joined the very brutal and public mobbing of Lindsey.

But then the Holy Spirit stepped in.

I want to be better. I want to be like Yeshua.

Yes, what she did was despicable.

There is no way around that. There is no excuse for it, and I am not interested in minimizing what happened or pretending that sin doesn’t have consequences.

BUT.

Yeshua died for her just like He died for you.

She is a soul.

It is Yehovah’s will that all be saved.

1 Timothy 2:4

And it is Yehovah’s will that she know Him, have a relationship with Him, repent, and be saved.

We have to keep this in mind as we rake her over the scorching social media coals and not just judge her, but condemn her.

This is not condoning what she did.

Not at all.

It is recognizing our responsibility as believers to know the nature of Yehovah and to walk as Yeshua walked.

He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.

1 John 2:6

And I know this makes many people uncomfortable, especially in cases like this.

But that is the nature of Scripture.

Scripture is supposed to uproot us from the world and bring us into a life of holiness and a mind of Yehovah.

Sometimes that means Scripture confronts the way we think.

Sometimes it challenges our sense of justice.

Sometimes it exposes things in us that we would rather not see.

And sometimes it tells us to show mercy to someone we don’t think deserves it.

That’s where we have to decide whether we are going to let Scripture change us—or whether we are going to twist Scripture until it agrees with us.

Sin Has Consequences

What she did was sin.

Sin has consequences.

And those consequences are fully hers, as they should be.

There is no biblical teaching that says forgiveness means there should be no consequences for sin.

There is no biblical teaching that says mercy means calling evil good.

There is no biblical teaching that says loving someone means approving of what they have done.

It doesn’t.

What she did was wrong.

But many people are hardening their hearts against her and holding unforgiveness toward her.

And that is where YOU sin.

Because now we’re no longer talking about what Lindsey did.

We’re talking about what you are doing with the condition of your own heart.

If you are holding that animosity, that ugliness of unforgiveness, it will turn into a root of bitterness and poison the well within you.

The writer of Hebrews warns us to be careful that a root of bitterness does not spring up and trouble us and defile many.

That warning wasn’t given to murderers.

It was given to believers.

We need to pay attention to that.

Forgiveness Does Not Mean What She Did Was Okay

Forgiveness does not mean that what she did was okay.

It most definitely is not.

Forgiveness means that you release that debt to Yehovah.

You stop carrying it as though it is yours to repay.

You stop appointing yourself as judge, jury, and executioner.

Yehovah knows better than any of us what happened, where she is now, what is happening in her heart, and where she is going.

That is between her and Yehovah.

It’s His business, not ours.

And we need to be mindful of our place and stay in our lane.

Let Yehovah decide what to do with her.

Our job is not to determine whether she is worthy of Yehovah’s mercy.

Because if that is the standard, we are all in trouble.

She Still Needs Yeshua

It is our duty to pray for her.

To bless her.

To pray that Yehovah puts someone in her path who loves her enough to introduce her to Him.

Someone who will help her know the Yehovah who created her.

Someone who will teach her how to repent.

Someone who will show her the truth of Scripture that will lead her to salvation.

Think about that for a minute.

If we genuinely believe that Yeshua died for sinners, then we cannot decide that this particular sinner is beyond the reach of His mercy.

We cannot say with our mouths that Yehovah’s grace is amazing and then turn around and decide that someone else is undeserving of it.

That’s not how this works.

Yeshua didn’t die for the people we think deserve Him.

He died for ALL sinners.

Including us.

We Have All Sinned

And this is where we need to be very careful about how we view sin.

We like to categorize sins.

We like to create a scale.

This sin is terrible.

That sin is worse.

I could never do something like that.

And perhaps you couldn’t.

But Scripture doesn’t give us permission to stand on our little pedestal of righteousness and look down on another sinner.

James 2:9-11 says that if you break one commandment, you have become a transgressor of the law.

Yes.

That’s in your Bible.

James isn’t telling us that every sin has identical earthly consequences. Obviously, they don’t.

He is showing us that we are all lawbreakers and that we don’t get to selectively uphold Yehovah’s law while making ourselves judge over someone else.

We have all sinned.

We have all needed mercy.

We have all needed forgiveness.

We have all needed repentance.

And we have all received mercy from Yehovah that we did not earn.

Walk Like Yeshua Walked

This is ultimately what bothers me about the way Christians can respond to cases like this.

We become so focused on what someone else did that we forget to examine what we are doing.

Are we walking as Yeshua walked?

Are we showing mercy?

Are we praying for sinners?

Are we hoping for repentance?

Are we speaking truth?

Are we grieving over sin without allowing hatred to take root in our hearts?

Yeshua never called sin acceptable.

He never told people that sin didn’t matter.

He called people to repentance.

But He also showed mercy to sinners.

He came to seek and save the lost.

And if we are going to call ourselves His followers, then we have to take seriously what 1 John 2:6 says:

“He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.”

That applies when it’s easy.

And it applies when it’s really, really hard.

So What Do We Do?

We pray.

We pray.

We pray for the family, the friends, the first responders, the legal teams—this isn’t easy on any of them. They are all carrying the weight of this terrible act in different ways.

We pray for those who find a personal connection to this tragedy. We pray for the strangers who never met Lindsey but connect with what happened, or who are deeply affected or even triggered by the act she committed.

There are people hurting on many different sides of this tragedy, and they all need prayer.

And yes, we pray for Lindsey.

We pray that she comes to know the God who created her.

We pray that she understands the seriousness of her sin.

We pray that she genuinely repents.

We pray that Yehovah puts people in her path who will speak truth to her.

We pray that she encounters the mercy of Yehovah.

And we release the judgment to Him.

This is not condoning anything that she did.

She is already paying for that, and she will be for the rest of her life.

There are consequences for sin.

But what Yehovah chooses to do with her soul?

That’s between her and Yehovah.

It’s His business.

Not ours.

We need to stay in our lane.

Because here’s the thing:

You don’t have to carry Lindsey’s sin.

You don’t have to carry her judgment.

You don’t have to carry her future.

And you certainly don’t have to carry hatred toward her.

Give it to Yehovah.

Let Him be the God you say He is, the God you believe Him to be.

Your job is to walk like Yeshua walked.

Your job is to show the same mercy He has shown you over and over again.

Your job is to pray.

Your job is to speak truth.

Your job is to forgive.

And your job is to protect the condition of your own heart.

Because bitterness will poison the well within you long before it ever changes the person you’re angry with.

So protect your peace.

Give this to Yehovah.

Pray for those affected by this tragedy.

Pray for the family.

Pray for Lindsey.

And then release it.

It is not your burden to carry.

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