President’s Day
Good Morning Friends,
Today we explore the relationship between trust and fear and the making of leaders. We do this because today is President’s Day.
Scripture: Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar.
Ezra 3:3 (NIV)
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.
Psalm 33:12 (NRSV)
Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 14:34 (NRSV)
Message:
Benjamin Franklin, although he did not become President put it this way, “Man will ultimately be governed by God or by tyrants.” Franklin Roosevelt, who was President, said that, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Indeed, if we fear God there is nothing else to fear. So with that in mind and in the hopes of a renewed blessing for our nation when our leaders know, pursue and pray for the righteousness of God, we share some of the words of our leaders. Enjoy and learn from these quotes of our Presidents:
“The reason that Christianity is the best friend of government is because Christianity is the only religion that changes the heart.” Thomas Jefferson
“The Bible is the first and almost the only book deserving of universal attention.” John Quincy Adam
“My custom is to read four or five chapters of the Bible every morning immediately after rising. It seems to me the most suitable manner of beginning the day. It is an invaluable and inexhaustible mine of knowledge and virtue.” John Quincy Adams
“I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man.” Abraham Lincoln
“A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.” Theodore Roosevelt
“The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.” Calvin Coolidge
“The study of the Bible is a post-graduate course in the richest library of human experience.” Hebert Hoover
“Of the many influences that have shaped the United States into a distinctive nation and people, none may be said to be more fundamental and enduring than the Bible.” Ronald Reagan
“I consider a decent respect for Christianity among the best recommendations for public service.” John Adams
“That Book, sir, is the Rock on which our Republic rests.“ Andrew Jackson
“Hold fast to the Bible as the sheet anchor of your liberties, write its precepts in your hearts, and practice them in your lives. To the influence of this book are we indebted for all the progress made in true civilization, and to this we must look as our guide in the future. Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.“ Ulysses S. Grant
“We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic. Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity.” Franklin Roosevelt
Pray we let God into the political conversation not to share information but to develop a relationship with us that gives us space to experience the sacred gift of the language of leadership. Pray our leaders choose words that etch themselves on our hearts to heal what is broken. Pray they plunge us into a reality of a story of faith that is original in its revelation. Pray in our leading and following we would be responsive to God. Pray we would be comfortable with ambiguity. Pray we would understand in our underdeveloped spiritual state, that it takes a long time to become holy. Pray that when we are afraid we trust God. Pray we build up what has been broken down.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 