Transparent

I got a phone call last night from a friend while I was watching the Braves game. He was encouraging me to check out a conversation on Facebook. The conversation centered around whether or not Christians, particularly well known Christians, should offer their public support of political candidates. Basically, the argument from the person who began the conversation was this: that any attempt to use your status as a public figure to influence anyone in any direction was a "prostitution of the church." (their words) I joined in the dialogue and watched for a little while before giving in and going to bed.

This morning, I was reading an interview with Mark Richt, head coach of the Georgia Bulldogs. Mark is outspoken about his faith and, obviously, a very public figure. Here is the quote that got my attention. When asked about his concern about possibly losing his job some day, Mark replied, "I don't worry about those things. I really don't. My focus is to do my job and my focus is to be obedient to my Lord and Savior. That's kind of what I do. If that's good enough, great."

There were mixed comments that followed the article. Most were completely in support of Mark as a coach and as a person. However, there were many who said he should leave his faith out of it and just be a football coach (a summary of their thoughts).

Can I tell you that I feel like that's a faulty way of thinking? Is it right--even expected--that any of us should try to leave our faith out of our politics or our careers? Why is it that a believer (the person on Facebook last night) would insist we leave faith out of our politics but those who have faith in something besides God are loud and proud of their way of life? Why would anyone expect that a man like Coach Richt would desire, much less be able, to keep his faith out of his career?

Two thoughts I'll give you. I think it's absolutely against Biblical principle to think that we can segment our lives into faith, career, hobbies, family, friends, etc without intermingling and one area affecting all the others.

Second, and probably more important, I dare say any person who can keep their faith separate from everything else probably doesn't have real faith to begin with...or at least faith that's worth emulating by others. I believe our churches and, by extension, our country suffers because too many people are living segmented lives. Until my church members learn that faith is to be lived Monday through Saturday, we haven't learned what really giving our life to Christ is all about. True surrender means every area of who I am including who I vote for and why I choose to live the way I do in my career...along with every other part of who I am. Only when we understand that can we truly be called "disciples" of Christ.