Matthew 23, Mark Sanford and Marriage

I am currently reading the Quiet Time Bible Guide, an IVPress daily devotional guide. Today's reading was Matthew 23. Have you read it? Wow! Jesus really lays into the Pharisees and the scribes. This was one of those passages where I thought, have I read this passage before? I am sure I have, but it still struck me in a new way. Wow, Jesus, you were harsh! But we know that He was harsh for all the right reasons and we know His heart behind his words. In verse 3 He says, "For they preach, but do not practice." The devotional guide asks the reader to consider how we confuse inner and outward righteousness in today's world. Then it asks us to consider where in our own lives where we need to walk what we talk. This is a hard teaching. But, as the Fray says, "Sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." After having my quiet time, I stumbled upon this Time article about Governor Mark Sanford's sex scandal. I am glad that Mark Sanford pointed out the obvious in his press conference:

"But in acknowledging his infidelity, Sanford was actually admitting that he had broken a state law: adultery is still punishable in South Carolina by up to a year in prison and a $500 fine. Fortunately for Sanford, the statute is an unenforced relic. But even if he faces no criminal penalties, Sanford is painfully aware that he will pay in other ways. 'I guess where I'm trying to go with this is that there are moral absolutes, and that God's law indeed is there to protect you from yourself,' Sanford said at the state capitol in Columbia. 'And there are consequences if you breach that. This press conference is a consequence.'"

And, yet it's still difficult to stomach as you read this passage later in the article:

"Democrats, as former President Clinton and more recently former North Carolina Senator John Edwards proved, are hardly immune to these disasters. But Sanford, a conservative Christian, has long portrayed himself as a model family man devoted to his wife of 20 years and their four sons. While he asked for his state's forgiveness, his hypocrisy and that of many other Republicans of late may exhaust the patience of Bible Belt voters. "A lot of Bible-steeped power brokers will still give him a pass," says John Jeter, a South Carolina writer whose new novel, The Plunder Room, examines Southern mores. "But American and especially Southern conservatism is going to have to find a new kind of face."

Of course, Mark Sanford is not the only Christian in the media to be recently accused of marital infidelity. Think about Jon Gosselin, his supposed affairs, and now their recent divorce. If you visit their website they offer a daily devotional guide. Seems ironic, no?

Of course, being Christian does not imply that we are perfect. It means that we know we are flawed sinners in need of grace. However, we are called to a higher standard, and it just makes me sad when Christians, who have influence and power, do not use their influence to glorify God. Really, how are Mark Sanford and Jon Gosselin any different from our non-Christian friends who are in the midst of separating?

It is easy to see that Christian marriage is under attack. So, do we get mad at the people who stumble and fall? Do we get mad at the enemy? Do we just get on our knees and pray for them (and for ourselves) to honor Christ in our marriages?

I suppose I am just thankful that Jesus walked what He talked and that when we meet God, He will see Jesus' walk and not my own.