The Price of Failure? $5,500.00 an hour?

I am not in the business of pointing fingers, and do not want to be.  As the wisdom goes, “As soon as you point one finger at someone else, there are four (three actually…try this) pointing back at you.”  Moreover, in light of biblical teaching (as opposed to republican/democratic teaching), we are called to realize our own fallen nature, and our propensity to make bad moral choices.  We are all capable of tragic failure apart from the grace of God and in our own strength.

This being stated here at the get go, now, let me spend a couple of moments dealing with the Eliot Spitzer prostitution scandal.  For me, and many others, amidst the sadness and horror of all the pain that will now come into his life and that of his family, the real tough part of this to handle is the severity of the lapse in judgment and the nature of what many are calling hypocrisy.  A figure, who once based his entire career as a moral crusader, and a political/criminal crusader, now finds his high priced (in more than one way) failure announced around the globe.  The “crimes” he once prosecuted, apparently, he has now committed.

The debate about what he “should” do in terms of his political career is the thing, at this moment, that is quite troubling.  Most are calling for his resignation, but some are encouraging him to stay and fight to the finish.  As one leading Harvard professor suggested on CNN today, “These laws against prostitution are out-dated and we will laugh at them in 20 years.”  This professor went on to deride the place of moral discussions in politics today, and suggested that political leaders should only be judged according to public performance on the job.

What is so troubling, in my view, about such a stance, is that it opens the door to Pandora’s box.  We assume, instinctively, at least most of us, that leaders should be living up to moral benchmarks.  We want people to lead us who also inspire us and call us to follow a higher standard of truth and conduct rather than redefine the meaning of truth or redefining the meaning of what “is” is.  If this benchmark of “right and wrong” (as Spitzer himself calls it) is abandoned in public political life, we open the door to an even grader decline in societal life.  Unlike this prominent scholar from Harvard, I disagree that we should long for the day when, like most of Europe, we legalize nearly all activities and make everything a “personal victimless choice”, as the professor calls it.  There are no victimless sins/failures despite the price pocketed by parties involved.  And, Mr. Professor, let me suggest, humbly, and by observing the experience of those who have gone similar ways,  money, no matter how much, removes the nature of psychological, emotional, relational, and spiritual pain involved in such matters.  Basic research, and observation of the human experience demonstrates to anyone, let alone a Harvard scholar, that such activity does not lead people on to significant levels of relational bliss, emotional stability, and general health.

All of us know, I hope, that we ought not be throwing stones at Eliot Spitzer.  Neither should we champion the cause of others who wish to destroy him further.  Rather, atune to our own nature and failure, we ought to suffer with he and his family and hope that they find the grace of God and a new direction.  We ought also hope and pray the same for others involved, including the woman who “earned” $5,500.00 as a fee for the momentary pleasure that has now led to a world of pain.  Let me assure you, she is not the worlds happiest woman.

Our call as followers of Christ during such moments is to allow the reality of hope and grace to season our conversations on such matters, and we ought to look for opportunities to lead others to consider the issue with sobriety and intelligence.  Moral failure does indeed have a price, one that extends far beyond the pocket book.  Only the grace of God provides a better way forward for all of us who could be called, in reality, “client no. 9″.  Sin offers its wares to all of us, and too often we all take the bait.

May God give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to pursue God’s call to a life worth living.  Such a life is not found in the halls of power nor in the bed of another.  When life unfolds for us, as it has now for Spitzer, all the toys, power, money, and titles, …mean very little.  May God give us His grace.  If you have found yourself in a similar situation, turn to God.  If you, unlike Mr. Spitzer, have managed to hide your failure up to now, consider that God sees all, and knows all.  You are who you are despite who may or may not see it.  God calls us to so much more.  The life worth living is found in the light of day, it is not hidden away in the darkness and secrecy of sin.

Oh, that we might know Him, and enjoy Him forever.

By Grace alone,

Bruce Smith

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This entry was posted on 11. March 2008 at 10:00 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.