Playing the Spiritual Card

Often in the world of politics we hear various candidates accusing the other of “playing the race card.” Both sides of the political divide in our country are quick to bring out that phrase in what appears to be a little self-righteous indignation about something the other side has done.

You can keep reading – this isn’t about politics or the race card!

It does seem, however, that sometimes Christians are quick to pull out the “spiritual card.” When some part of our lives gets a little sticky – we are at least tempted to retreat to “look how spiritual I am” as the do-all clean-up operation for whatever mess we’re in.

When students end up in my office to deal with “sticky situations,” more than once I’ve heard, “I can’t believe you think I did that, I read the Bible and pray every day!” Somehow some sort of arbitrary standard about spirituality becomes the defense of behavior that can’t be defended.

I’ve noticed over the years that some of the public failures of church leadership – the ones whose names we all know because they were in the news – are rebuffed by “but I’ve preached against that all my life.” I remember reading, several years ago, about a church financial secretary who embezzled large sums of money from her employer church, only to donate it to a new church start she was a part of. Somehow “putting it to good use” (her “spiritual card”) was justification for stealing from another church.

Sometimes church staff members find themselves caught in the cultural temptation to not “put in their 40 hours.” When challenged about better work habits, our spiritual cards can be anything from “I don’t make that much money anyway” to “I had to take care of the kids who were out of school.” In the name of some warped sense of spirituality, we find ways to be dishonest with the very people we seek to lead to a deeper relationship with Christ.

We can use the “spiritual card” to explain our poor giving habits, our poor work habits, our failure to prepare our own material, and just about any other moral failure imaginable. In the same way that anyone, regardless of ethnicity, can play the race card; anyone who is a believer can play the spiritual card. In neither case does such behavior ever lead to correcting wrongs.)

Jesus must have anticipated our tendencies in this area. Near the end of Matthew’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21, NRSV) In Luke’s shorter version of similar material, Jesus says, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46, NRSV)

Paul echoes much the same message in Ephesians 4:1, “I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, be you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (NRSV) Apparently if you and I are going to call ourselves “Children of the Lord” there is high expectation that we live in a way that is genuine – thus making “playing the spiritual card” unnecessary!