Good Morning Everyone,

 

Our theme for this month: “Excellence”

 

Our Bible verse for today: “I said, ‘Listen you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.” Micah 3:1-2 (NLT)

 

Our thought for today: “We must demand that our leaders behave with honesty and integrity.”

 

Right now in the USA we’re hot and heavy in the middle of a Presidential election cycle. And, sadly, it’s a particularly mean-spirited and ugly election cycle. Dirt is being dug up, mud is being slung, wild and preposterous accusations are being made by both sides, and many Americans (myself included) are disheartened by the poor choice of candidates.

 

One part of our problem today is that as a people we’ve become far too willing to ignore, accept, or sometimes even endorse bad behavior on the part of those who aspire to the highest positions of leadership. Because we disagree with or dislike one candidate, we’re willing to overlook and make excuses for the poor behavior of the other.

 

Doing that is always wrong. If an individual is prone to corrupt, immoral, and self-serving conduct to begin with, and then their supporters wink at or make excuses for their unacceptable behavior, it only encourages their belief that they can get away with anything, and that then leads to even worse behavior in the future.

 

Not only do we as individual Christians have a God-given responsibility to strive for good behavior in our own lives, but we must demand it of our leaders as well. And when they fail, when they engage in conduct that is wrong, they must be held accountable. If not, then we end up with a situation like what Micah was writing about that existed in Old Testament Israel. The leaders were corrupt, they were disreputable, they were immoral and greedy, and the people let them get away with it.

 

But not Micah. He didn’t let them get away with it. He boldly called them to account. He publicly challenged and reprimanded them. He didn’t rationalize, excuse away, or in any other way cut them slack. Instead, he reminded them of God’s standards. He warned them of judgment and punishment if they continued in their unacceptable conduct, and he did it regardless of other considerations.

 

That’s a pretty good model for us. Regardless of which party you support or which candidate you want to see win, when the conduct of our leaders (or those aspiring to positions of leadership) is unacceptable, it’s up to “we the people” to say so – loudly and often, until they are pressured to change.

 

Unfortunately many people continue to voice loud and enthusiastic support for their preferred candidate regardless of how bad his or her behavior is. That’s wrong and dangerous. When this election is over one of them is going to be the next President. Considering the deep character flaws of both of the leading candidates, whoever that person is, they are going to need to be kept on a very short leash by the American people. Don’t give either of them a free pass on unacceptable conduct now, during the election. Doing that leads them to believe they will be able to continue to get away with it once in office. They need to hear from you that their conduct is wrong and won’t be tolerated.

 

Please, please, please, do not shrug off or in any other way accept or offer excuses for the poor behavior of our would-be leaders. Hold them accountable.

 

God Bless,

Pastor Jim