Whom should we impeach?
I remember seeing the video of President Nixon entering the helicopter and waving at the cameras with his famous two-handed peace sign. It was 1974 and I was a sophomore in high school.
I remember when the impeachment proceedings were initiated against President Clinton. It was 1998 and I was trying to steer my two sons away from the ugly descriptions in the television news. My boys were both in elementary school.
Last week, I couldn’t help but wonder what my grandkids were hearing. I wondered if my oldest were asking, “Dad, what is impeach?”
How would you answer that question?
The definition
Impeach is a verb and means “call into question the integrity or validity of (a practice).”
The word is used most often in America to “charge (the holder of a public office) with misconduct.”
From my limited knowledge of politics, I would ask this question: Who in Washington D.C. isn’t impeachable?
In my memory, integrity has not really been a standard we use to measure our leaders. If that were the case, we wouldn’t have slanderous campaign ads that flood the airwaves and that continue once they are in office—and especially once they campaign for office again.
Would we have the problems in Washington today if we had voted for leaders who believed that integrity was a high standard for their campaigns? Can a person of high integrity ever win? Is winning more important than maintaining personal integrity?
It doesn’t matter which teams you root for in this world. Integrity should be a standard we value more than winning.
How much does integrity matter?
We look for integrity in our preachers, teachers, and medical professionals. We would appreciate integrity in our lawyers, but we demand integrity from the lawyers on the other side of the table. We want integrity in our bankers, but do we require it of our tax accountants? We want the service industries to help us with integrity, but what about the realtor negotiating the sale of our home?
We are angry with the baseball teams that cheat their way to the top. How would we feel if it were our team that had won the trophy?
Deflategate and Watergate
I remember when Tom Brady was suspended for several games after “deflategate.”
He won the Super Bowl that year and another two years later. It’s possible, even probable, that deflategate cost his team a title the year Brady was suspended for four games. But, did Brady’s suspension change his sport or just the way footballs are checked on snowy days?
I loved a letter to the Astros franchise that a friend posted on Facebook. He is an avid fan who is greatly disappointed in his team. But, he will still be a fan—if they clean up their standards for winning and return to a place of integrity in their sport.
His Facebook post prompted this blog post. Washington DC didn’t change because of Watergate and Brady’s suspension didn’t cause everyone in sports to stop cheating.
Is there a Romans 8:28 in our news?
If winning matters most, then people will continue to compromise their integrity to win.
If God matters most, then people will continue to aim at integrity.
Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Lost people will always act lost. The real point of this blog post is to ask us: Will Christians act saved?
We need to choose to love God most and be called to his purpose, especially this week.
You are the light of the world
Like it or not, Christians are the light in this culture. We tend to get angry at lost people who act lost more than saved people who act lost. We have grace for the saved because, after all, that’s our team.
Americans are all part of the fallen human race and therefore we are all flawed. But there are a lot of us who are also part of God’s eternal family.
When King Solomon was commissioning God’s children, he spoke for God, saying, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
King Solomon was a faithful, strong, and flawed leader. Maybe that’s why God chose him to deliver some of the most important words in Scripture. The key to 2 Chronicles 7:14 is found in the first three words of the verse: “If my people . . . .”
The integrity of our culture is not the fault of, nor the responsibility of, the lost. God’s people are supposed to be “the light of the world.” We are supposed to humble ourselves, turn from our mistakes, and pray and seek God’s face.
God’s promise of blessing was not contingent upon the lost people doing the right things; it was contingent upon God’s people doing the right things.
Our role in the impeachment proceedings
Whatever “team” you are on in politics, remember that you are there to love God and serve his purpose.
Romans 8:28 is the responsibility of every Christian so that God can redeem all things to his great and perfect purpose.
Will we humble ourselves, pray, and seek God’s face? We are God’s people, and 2 Chronicles 7:14 explains that his blessings are a direct response to our obedience.
Christians are the light of the world because the light of the world indwells us. Don’t let the world shove your light under a basket. This is an important time to shine. Humble yourself, seek God’s face, and turn from the wrong words and ways that will be easy to slip into this week. Please God if you want to win.
God can and will redeem anything for his good, if his people are called to his ways.
Can God count on you this week, and each week, to be called to his good purpose?
That is our role in the impeachment proceeding
