The Letterman Effect

I watched in stunned silence David Letterman’s confession to his live audience about his inappropriate relationships with his staffers. I was not stunned because of his admission of guilt. I was more stunned by the flippant approach to apologize to the staffers and worldwide fans than I was in his futile attempt at remorse. The remorse that was sparingly there, was due to the fact that he had been caught and was being blackmailed. There was nothing too contrite about his confession.

In fact, as I watched, it was very clear that Letterman was playing the victim card. I know that he was a victim of a serious crime in regards to the blackmail. However, is the best way to deal with failure or sin to deflect responsibility and compare it to someone else’s? So in effect, Letterman’s confession had more to do with that fact that he had been ratted out rather than being sorry for the situation he had created. By they way, there wasn’t a public acknowledgement to his wife until the following Monday. I am not saying there had to be, however, it would have come across a lot better if he’d profusely apologized to her more than point his finger at his accused assailant.

Why would or should we expect more from those whose sin catches up with them? Would any of us have reacted differently? Probably not. We too would have entertained those around us with jokes or shift the blame in order to feel better about the situation. We are long past the days of calling a spade a spade. Sin is sin regardless if we want to confess it as such or not. As I stated before, I am not surprised by Letterman’s indiscretions, however, I was disgusted by his insincerity and the live audience’s light-hearted approach. This really isn’t a laughing matter. Letterman did what he does best though. I know that we expect this sort of behavior from the rich and famous. In fact, we’ve become pretty numb to sin and its effects regardless of whom it is. Regardless if Letterman’s staffer relationships were pre or post marriage, it was still a sin. Who cares if it is considered the norm in our society. We’ve become numb.

That is why I think we NEED to have a healthy understanding of sin, its consequences, and its ability to numb us to the Word of God. We cannot continue down the road of justifying our inability to live up to the standards God expects from us. This is coming from a Christian nation that has a surplus of “we can do all things through Christ” coffee mugs, t-shirts, and bumper stickers. We can’t have it both ways. He is either a conqueror of all things or nothing...not both.

So what does a healthy view of sin look like? First, let’s call sin out in our own lives. If you want a church word, it is called confession. The word confess really means to agree with God that what you did or are doing is wrong and goes against His character and will. I do not believe that daily confession is necessary for forgiveness because sin was paid for once by Jesus. However, if we are going to get beyond sin, we need to agree with God that it is sin so that we can yield to His Spirit within us to remove it from our lives. The process that God uses to remove that sin from our lives is called repentance. Repent literally means to turn away from, to do a 180 degree turn. Sin is directly opposite of who God is. Death vs. Life. Darkness vs. Light. Chaos vs. Peace. Lost vs. Found. False vs. Truth. Denial vs. Confession. To repent is to acknowledge God’s way is not just the best way, but the only way. To repent is to turn from a self-centered view of doing life to a God centered way of doing life.

We also need to understand that there may be consequences from our sin. It may result in the loss of a job, loved one, friendship, respect, and in certain situations our own lives. However, these consequences do not define who we are OR seal our final destination. What do I mean? God isn’t going to love us less because of our sin or our behavior. The presence of the Holy Spirit in my life serves as my deposit, my guarantee that He will see me through to the end because He finishes what He starts! God is not going to yank eternal life from me because I sinned. A consequence of my sin is not going to be the loss of eternal life!

Let’s call sin what it is. Let’s identify it, turn from it, learn from it, and continue to pursue the One who is pursuing us.