Your Cheatin’ Heart
It’s been a few weeks since I weighed in on all the cheating that seems to be going on in sports, and of course now in the last 24 hours Roger Clemens has appeared before Congress to “investigate” whether he cheated in baseball by taking performance enhancing drugs. And now on the same day we see Roger Goodell of the NFL appearing before Senator Spector about why he destroyed evidence that the New England Patriots had cheated by video taping other teams in an illegal way. And just a few weeks ago we watched Marion Jones of track and field fame give back all her gold medals she had won in the Olympics because she took steroids…and I could go on and on. Now I hear about a cheating scandal in the Air Force Academy and to top it all off I was reminded this week that later this year, the Assemblies of God will be producing all new tests for credentialing ministers because some unknown person got a hold of the old tests and the answer keys and actually posted the right answers to the tests on the internet… and sadly it seems a number of ministerial candidates took advantage of the posted material to pass their tests. So what in the world is going on? Well of course Jesus said the heart is “crazy wicked”. And of course we know this is nothing new. We know that in everything from sports to elections of major governmental positions across the world there have been a lot of cheatin’ hearts. But, I fear we have become a society where performance and accolades have been exalted above this thing called ethics and character.We have so glorified these things called “winning” and “fame” to such a degree that there is a subtle pressure for people to do whatever needs to be done to win and become famous. Take it to the bank! If it takes cheating to get win or become famous– then so be it. Cheating is fine – just don’t get caught! Don’t forget this is the culture where parents do whatever is needed to see their child become famous. This is the culture where we will drive our kids anywhere, anytime, at any price to see them excel in a sport, or interest or whatever… but most parents would never go to that length to make sure their kids get to Sunday School or small group in order that they may become godly people who know character outweighs fame and performance. Frankly, until we get this right as a culture don’t expect America’s theme song to change from “Your Cheatin Heart”. By the way that was a classic country and western hit by Hank Williams – many moons ago.
