Evangelical commentators from Ron Sider to George Barna have bemoaned the apparent disconnect between Christian beliefs and practice. Robert Jeffress, minister at First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas, looks at the problem from a pastoral perspective in Grace Gone Wild: Getting a Grip on God's Amazing Gift (WaterBrook, 2005). Stan Guthrie, a CT senior associate editor, sat down with him.

Why did you write the book?
There is little to no discernable lifestyle difference between Christians and non-Christians. I believe we're using grace as a cover, as a license for sin. . . .

There is another aspect of this case that deserves attention. In federal lawsuits against state officials that allege violations of constitutional rights, defendants are required to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees if they lose the suit. In this case, Americans United explicitly warned the Bridgeport school board that, if it lost the case, it would be paying over a substantial amount of money to its own lawyers and those of the ACLU. Thus there is a strong—and unjustly one-sided—financial incentive on the part of many public institutions to cave in to the demands of groups such as the ACLU and Americans United and settle such suits. . . .

It’s not because no one else is offering commentary on tonight’s results. And it’s not because we’re tired of talking about Ted Haggard. (Okay, it’s not only because we’re tired talking about him.) But most places talking about today’s election will be focusing on politics. We want to find out what today’s votes mean for American Christianity. Are evangelicals’ priorities changing? Are evangelicals as “dispirited” as some claim? Are many voters today motivated by antagonism toward the Religious Right? Is this the Religious Left’s moment? We’ll be asking these questions as we look at tonight’s results and the media coverage of them. We’ll also be checking in with some of the others religious blogs tonight, and rounding up responses from Jim Dobson to Jim Wallis.

Regrettably, evangelical Protestantism has too frequently accepted the Enlightenment separation of "spiritual" matters from "political" ones. While there is a central truth in the evangelical declaration, "Jesus is Lord of my life," the final phrase actually weakens the statement. The biblical declaration at the core of the gospel is simply, "Jesus is Lord." As theologian N. T. Wright says:

It's quite clear what Paul is talking about: that he comes into town announcing that Jesus is Lord as a royal herald. He is saying that the crucified Jesus is the Lord of the world. And this is not, "Here is a way of salvation. You might like to apply it to yourself." … This is really an imperial summons: "On your knees!"

Paul, it's worth noting, did not go on to call for the Romans to be overthrown and replaced with good Christians. On the contrary, while he declared that Caesar is not Lord, Paul also acknowledged that God had given Caesar a mandate to bring order and justice until Jesus' lordship is made complete. . . .

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