I could easily become just like the guy. The moment I think otherwise is when I start.
I don’t want to build an artifice of integrity like Falwell Jr. did. Yes, I want my family to see and savor the perfect integrity & glory of Jesus Christ, but that does not mean my family should not see a similar kind of integrity and glory in the head of their household. If I want my family to see Jesus––and keep seeing Jesus–– they’ve got to see Jesus in me. As the apostle writes, “Be imitators of me as I imitate Christ.” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Some contemporary evangelicals like to excuse the lack of integrity in households (i.e., fathers) with sayings such as, “Just focus on Jesus; no one is perfect.” Christians can say what they way, chant as they chant, and mantra all their mantras, but if my focus on Jesus is not making me more like Jesus, then the Jesus of the Bible is not the Jesus I am looking at. Plain and simple.
What purpose did His visibly gruesome death on a cross serve if it has no visible effect on my life? Did the Son of God’s blood dry up the moment it touched my life? Does the Christ who descended undeservedly to Hell and back on sinners’ behalf not deserve––at the very least––someone’s genuine allegiance? He deserves more than genuine allegiance. He deserves visible allegiance, too.
Most did not see a visible allegiance to Christ in Jerry Falwell Jr.’s life anyway. But that’s him. What about us?
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