The following article is my editorial this week in The Clinton Chronicle . . .
“Dare to
risk public criticism,” said Mary Kay Ash. She should know. A successful
businesswoman who broke many molds and took many risks, I’m sure she endured
her share of critics.
I remember
as a young pastor receiving an anonymous letter full of complaints about me and
my wife. Most pastors have received a few of those cowardly gems. The
author rebuked me in one line by saying, “You make too many photocopies, which
wastes our ink and toner!” Boy, he might as well have said I was lower than a
snake’s belly in a wagon rut. My wife and I still laugh, some almost twenty
years later, that we may stoop really low one day and waste too much ink and
toner.
Dick
Cheney’s autobiography In My Time reviews the lives of political figures who have shaped
America the past several decades. Cheney rubbed shoulders with many of
Washington’s elites.
One lesson
was gleaned from observing the leadership of Gerald Ford: some actions are only
justified by time.
Cheney
shares the surprise he and many Americans experienced when, on September 8,
1974, President Ford issued a full, free, and absolute pardon to Richard Nixon
following the Watergate scandal. Cheney writes, “He described his actions as
a way to ‘shut and seal’ the matter of Watergate and to mitigate the suffering
of Richard Nixon and his family.”
At the time,
this action cost Ford – some speculate that it cost him the reelection. There
was immediately “a firestorm of controversy and criticism.” Ford’s approval
rating dropped from 71% to 49%. The press condemned Ford, and he endured much
negative criticism as a result.
However,
more than 30 years later, Cheney writes, “[T]he wisdom and generosity
of Gerald Ford’s instincts have been recognized for their courage and honored
for their rightness. But at the time the pardon was controversial and
unpopular.”
Wisdom
beckons, at times the right choice is the unpopular choice. The right choice
may be greatly misunderstood and even condemned. It takes courage to make the
right choice. And in time, even those who criticize that person may see years
later that it was the right choice.
Two decades
ago, my parents left a church situation that had become toxic. Before they
left, she warned some persons of the unwise and ungodly path that the senior
pastor was taking. Mom and Dad – and anyone else who questioned the pastor -
received an incredible amount of criticism and ostracism for their stance. The
staff was even told to not have conversations with them. Several years later,
however, after several hundred people and most of the staff left the church, an
ex-staff member commented in retrospect, Mrs. Wilson was right.
I’ve tried
to remember through the years one simple difference. Reputation and opinion are
what people think and say about you based on their limited perspective.
Character is what God sees about you from His unlimited perspective when no one
else is looking. Sometimes they are the same, sometimes different.
A godly
person does not play to the crowd. A wise person does not make judgments based
solely on public opinion. Instead, he or she seeks to please the audience of
One – the Lord. The book of Proverbs reveals that true wisdom is rooted in the
fear of God.
King Saul in
the Old Testament lived most of his reign working to make himself look good in
front of others. The fruit of his character revealed a pitiful life, not so
different than the lives of some Hollywood favorites or political figures that
woo the crowds but lead miserable lives of shallow character.
Be willing
to make the hard decisions when necessary. God will be pleased, and time will
tell.
Pictures used by permission from Pixabay.
