"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48)
My wife and I were channel-surfing this afternoon, moving, somehow, to a replay of Richard Nixon's funeral on C-SPAN. Why in the world is this on today? I have no idea, except that it's the day after former President Gerald Ford was brought to the US capital for several days of laying-in-state. (And the day after President Saddam Hussein was executed in Iraq.)
Looking at things from a Christian perspective, in terms of the Bible verse from Luke, I have to think that President Nixon could have done more while in office. He was given the opportunity to lead one of the greatest countries in the world, at a particular time in the history of that country. While he didn't particularly fail, and had some phenomenal successes (like his opening to China), he didn't do what he might have.
Nixon's case is, I believe, a perfect example of power corrupting a person. The focus of his presidency became not those he served - the people of the United States - but his own position as president. He took his eye off the ball, so to speak - his job leading the country - and focused on himself. He failed in the very thing that Bible verse describes.
While I am tempted to describe what Nixon could have done while in office, I am thinking, rather, of what I can do different in my own life. It's time for "taking stock". I need to try to understand what God has in mind for me. Perhaps, if Nixon had done that, or had had a close advisor who had counseled that, things would have turned out differently for him, and his troubles would never have materialized.
1 comment:
I wish we did have more servant-leaders in politics, but I think that the nature of the political beast attracts mostly those who seek the glory for themselves.
Such a public position as POTUS would be an exceptional witness to the world for the committed Christian; however, we do not elect many committed Christians to office -- or, if we do, they so easily seem to backslide.
A pastor once told me that we humans are not built for fame and glory, and that it why it so often ruins us. Those few in the spotlight who can hand it all over to God in humility are the ones who are saved from that situation.
Thoughtful post, Mark.
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