Big Gift - Small Character

A recent posting from Betsy, and then an exchange of emails with her got me thinking about the various falls we've seen people of religious importance take.

Jimmy Swaggart - sex
Jim Bakker - sex
Jerry Fallwell - diarrhea of the mouth
Pat Robertson - ditto

Those are the 4 biggest. But, don't we all know the lesser known people who never made it nationally, but did make in locally? The local pastor who embezzled money, or had an affair with the board member's wife. 20-20 never pics up the story, maybe even the local news never gets wind of it, but people know.

A comment was made as I discussed such scandals with co-workers. The comment was "things like this (scandals) happen when your gifting is bigger than your character."

A great comment I thought. Each of these 4 men are obviously gifted. Whether or not you like their gift, you at least have to admit, you don't become nationally known without being gifted. But when your character isn't as big as your gift, or more likely when your gift is rapidly accelerated beyond your character people often stumble.

Moral of the story... Spend less time developing your gift and more time developing your character.