In Pursuit of Greatness

What makes men or women great? Is it the degree of power or wealth they accumulate in the course of their lives? Or the fame that they acquire? Or is it something more? We can be inspired by the words of the apostle Peter in 2nd Peter chapter 1:
10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble;
11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
13 Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you,
14 knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me.
15 Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.

No one who has ever served as U.S. President has made it to the age of 100.  But, Jimmy Carter did so earlier this year.  Yesterday, it was announced that former President Carter had died.

In some respects, Mr. Carter represents a true American story: a peanut farmer, a veteran, a state lawmaker who rose from relative obscurity to attain the highest position in the land.  He failed to win re-election after his first term, but he began, in a sense, a remarkable post-Presidency, which was marked by his charitable work with Christian ministry Habitat for Humanity and his receiving of the Nobel Peace Prize. 

And, in many circles, he will be remembered for his faith pursuits, including the regular teaching of a Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. 

But, the demonstration of his Christian faith was somewhat enigmatic. It was a faith popularized by comments made, in all places, in Playboy magazine, as an article at The Tennessean website noted:

Jimmy Carter referenced Jesus in an interview with Playboy magazine and it cost the Democratic presidential nominee more than he could fathom in the moment.

“I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times,” Carter said, a quote that Playboy published weeks before the 1976 general election.

The Tennessean story related: 

“I am quite disillusioned,” the Rev. Jerry Falwell told The Washington Post, according to the book, “Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter” by Randall Balmer. Falwell, among other notable preachers, criticized Carter's interview with Playboy as an example of voicing impure thoughts.

“Four months ago, the majority of the people I knew were pro-Carter,” added Falwell in the Washington Post. “Today, that has totally reversed.”

That divide only widened after Carter’s election that November and it fueled a fearsome counterattack to the president’s progressive evangelicalism, even though the two sides shared certain core beliefs. That opposition, called the Religious Right, was instrumental in denying Carter a second term.

Balmer noted that the 1970's in which Carter served were "a high moment in the history of progressive evangelicalism." The story also mentioned Carter's use of the phrase, "born-again Christian" to describe himself.

Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, in a piece at the Providence magazine website earlier this year illustrated the enigmatic nature of Carter and the faith he espoused:

Carter as a “born again” Baptist was famously devout. But he disdained the new Religious Right (which arose partly in reaction against him), criticized the pro-life movement, eventually supported gay marriage, and repeatedly “resigned” from the Southern Baptist Convention. He seemed more Mainline Protestant than evangelical. He admired and quoted Reinhold Niebuhr. But Carter was more liberal Baptist moralist than Christian Realist. Unlike Niebuhr, he largely saw politics as a crusade for righteousness, not a balance of contending interests.

Evangelicals supported Carter in 1976 as one of their own. But in 1980 they helped ensure his defeat as they identified more with Reagan.

Tooley said that Carter was "...honest, diligent, endlessly hardworking, an engineer who always wanted to organize for good. After his presidency, Carter promoted and actively volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, which builds homes for low-income people. He founded the Carter Center to advocate for international human rights. Perhaps its greatest accomplishment is saving millions of people in the Global South from Guinea worm disease. Unlike other ex-presidents, Carter lived modestly, stayed in his same pre-presidential house in small town Georgia, maintaining lifelong friendships, sustaining a happy 77-year marriage with his devoted Rosalyn, and teaching Sunday school until recently."

I lived through the Carter years as a college student - those were difficult economic times for our nation, certainly, and I was glued to the television nightly, usually with other students, to see the latest on the Iranian hostage crisis. But, there were "accomplishments," as Tooley outlined:

He hosted the momentous Camp David Peace Accord between Egypt and Israel. He deregulated the airlines leading to lower prices. He instituted tough and politically costly anti-inflation measures. After the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, he began an increase in defense spending that ultimately reversed the Cold War in America’s favor. His advocacy for human rights sometimes destabilized friends and strengthened more repressive enemies. But it also freed political prisoners and reiterated American ideals.

Tooley writes: "Despite his errors, Carter is a sincere humanitarian with a deep faith in God. He was often wrong but with earnestness, not malevolence. He tirelessly worked to make the world better and sometimes succeeded, which I now admire. His policies as president are mostly not models of sound statecraft. But how he lived as man across a century is a model for all."

The Alabama Baptist stated:

A lifelong Southern Baptist, Carter publicly parted ways with the denomination in 2000 over issues including the SBC’s position on women and the pastorate. In 2012, he was interviewed by Southern Baptist seminary president Albert Mohler about the differences that led Carter away from the SBC, including complementarian views on gender and the inerrancy of Scripture.

Mohler, who helped author the 2000 iteration of The Baptist Faith and Message with which Carter took issue, noted his respect for Carter, despite major disagreements. “One of the most difficult things to do in terms of a Christian conversation is to disagree,” Mohler said of the interview, “and to disagree publicly.”

That article noted:

After he entered hospice care in February 2023, Carter’s church prayed for him during a worship service and shared one of his most famous quotes: “My faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I can, whenever I can, for as long as I can with whatever I have to try to make a difference.”

So, as we will hear the kind words about the late James Earl Carter Jr. over the next few days, we will live again those challenging years of his presidency, and recognize that God is calling each of us to follow His call upon our lives. So often in this world, kindness, which is listed among the fruit of the Spirit, is a virtue that is lacking.  We are more concerned with winning arguments than winning hearts to the truth of Scripture.

One might say that Jimmy Carter, while professing a strong faith, fell short in certain areas of importance. But, the compassion he exemplified, in an attempt to live out that faith in love, can be inspiring to all of us.  After all, in our desire to be consistent witnesses for Christ, live that out in inconsistent ways.  Carter rose from the shell of an oft-criticized Presidency to set an example of putting others first that we all can emulate.