Today's Devotional
July 3, 2009
Subject: Raise The Bar
Jeremiah 50:2a "Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not."
Despicable, embarrassing and shameful are the words I use to describe the embattled South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford. Not only has he let down the people of the state that he was elected to lead, but his adulterous affair has devastated his family and left many questioning whether or not he is fit to serve in the state's highest post. I personally think that if he was truly fit to lead, he would have resigned from his position as Governor under the heavy weight of such an ugly situation of his own doing. The problem I have with people who do things like this and then insist on remaining in their positions, is that they have no standard for their own conduct.
Here's a personal story on what I mean. During this past school year, I got in trouble because on one of the field trips I took with my students, some cadets took the liberty to sleep in other students rooms across gender lines. We assigned rooms, boys with boys and girls with girls, but to make a long story short, they did their own thing and there were some boys and girls who stayed in rooms together. The day after I got wind of the affair and found out what happened, I immediately went to my Principal and detailed what took place. I first of all let him know that if I were the Principal and this had happened with one of my teachers, I would fire the teacher. He looked somewhat puzzled because I was telling him that I deserved to be fired. My point to him was that people have to learn to take responsibility in their positions and the standard that I have for myself as a teacher and leader of these students is quite high. If I fail to meet that standard, then someone else should be given the chance to maintain that standard.
We all have personal standards of conduct and they should all match up with the standard that God has for us. That is a standard of righteousness and holiness. Not only should that be our personal standard, we must demand that standard from our leaders. I'm sick and tired of the excuses we make for our leaders like, "nobody's perfect" and all of that so that we can elect and select people with the most money, the best looks, or the best speech. We're not asking for perfection, we're asking for Godly men and women to be that and believers should be selecting based on that.
I submit that our problems have nothing to do with our smarts, our problem is with our standards. Our bar is too low. Today we need to raise the bar; for ourselves and for our leaders. That way we can discern good leadership from bad. If there is no standard or if it is too low, then everyone qualifies and sadly as is now evident, not everyone should qualify.
Carlen
