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TechnoratiIn case you haven’t heard Mark Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina, was caught by his wife in an adulterous affair with a woman from Argentina. To be honest, it makes me cringe when I hear his qualifying explanations and weird apologies. It is obvious that he is still “in love/lust” with this woman but was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. I’m sure he is torn between his commitment to God, his wife, his constituencies and his hormones. To be honest, I wish he would just resign and go away. The media is having a field day with this story. Like pit bulls with raw steak they are salivating, tearing and chomping the tantalizing tidbits of this tawdry real life romance novel.
But there is nothing novel or noble about it. This whole thing makes me sick. It is very sad, not just for his family, but because it gives another black eye to the battered bride of Christ.
Speaking of brides, I actually respect his wife for not just blindly standing by her man, pretending like she supports him. She is angry, committed to God and processing what to do next. She seems like the only one in this story who is not a fake. Don’t get me wrong, I hope they work it out. But I hope they really work it out and not just stay together in the marriage because divorce is not an option, or for the sake of the kids or whatever. And talk about Sanford and sons. I feel bad for the junkyard he has left for his young boys. Their hero has fallen. Their world has cracked.
I am praying that Sanford repents, resigns and then restores his marriage. and gains back the respect of his kids. But the dude has got a long way to go from what I can see.
It’s always something with us Christians. A few years ago it was the whole tawdry affair between Ted Haggard and a male escourt (isn’t that just a fancy way of saying prostitute?) It just seems like every year or two another nationally prominent Christian bites the dust of the lust and we, the believers in Christ, become a laughing stock to the world…again. We just keep giving the unregenerate more and more reasons not to believe in Jesus.
So how are we to respond? What’s a believer to do when good Christians go bad?
1. Don’t be surprised.
A Christian can commit any sin that an unregenerate person can. We still have a sinful nature and it is as depraved as ever. Our sinful nature doesn’t become less sinful when we become Christians. Sure, it is legally dead, like a prisoner on death row without appeals. But it still can lie to us from behind the bars. Paul makes this clear in Romans 7:15-19, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.”
Don’t be surprised when Christians sin. We all have it in us.
2. Don’t get cocky.
My wife sometimes gets frustrated with me when she asks me “Would you ever cheat on me?” and my answer is inevitably, “I sure hope not.” She wants me to give her a definitive “no!” but I am afraid of giving it because I don’t want to get arrogant about my own ability and resolve to stay pure. It’s that kind of sure-fire cockiness that leads to moral compromise. Galatians 6:1 reminds us, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.” Continue »
