Listening to the coverage of the late President Carter’s life, I heard a newscaster comment that Jimmy Carter may be, “the best-known Christian in contemporary history.” That might be true, or it might be debatable. Either way, would Christ be interested in a competition of who was his best follower…probably not. And I do think a solid case might also be made for St. Mother Theresa or St. Pope JPII, or several other holy people.
But be that as it may, I pondered that statement in light of my research on faith formation and thought about three elements worth remembering that Jimmy Carter’s life, after his presidency, evidence.
Humility – There seems to be no clearer manifestation of holiness than the person who embodies humility. The humble person knows their value…and the value of every other human. C.S. Lewis said, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” Humility was intrinsic in Jimmy Carter’s spiritual ethic. He had a home and believed every person should have a home. He used his influence and his own hands to create homes for those who didn’t have one.
Resilience – I was moved to read how depressed he was after his roaring defeat in his second bid for the presidency. But in coming home to his tiny, small town, he remembered God had a purpose for him. And he needed to find out what that was. From that season of his life, he created his foundation which built homes in 140 countries and eradicated two diseases that killed children in Africa. It was said that he was looking for places that had problems and causes that got little attention. Guess he found some significant ones.
Faith – This leads me to the third value which, by every measure, was at the center of his life, his faith. He embodied consistent life practices of keeping the Bible and its teachings the highest priority which echoes the research on what is effective in faith formation. His simple, yet profound faith habits exemplified everything research today tells us is effective to develop faith:
- Belong to a faith community. In his case, a tiny church in Plains, Georgia.
- Do something for that church. He is said to have taught Sunday school every Sunday he was able to. What if everyone taught Sunday school for one year? I believe we would be a different Church.
- Live the Gospel message. He lived works of mercy- fed the hungry, healed the sick, sheltered the homeless and then added everyone deserves a basic education.
- Read Scripture as the living Word of God. He and his wife read the Bible together every night. I wish I could say that happens in our home every night.
These seem like lessons in life for all of us. What a legacy it would be if we each were eulogized as, best known for being Christian?