Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established. Proverbs 15:22 KJ
Since the recent election of Donald Trump to the presidency, the airwaves have been filled with announcements as well as speculations as to who will fill which role in the new administration. But the most important cabinet position has yet to be discussed. Who will fill the role of spiritual advisor to our incoming commander in chief? Everyone knows that George Washington was our first president, but few have read that it was Pastor John Gano who baptized him and Mason Locke Weems who pastored the little church near Mount Vernon where Washington attended. Some presidential spiritual advisors were well known such as Peter Marshall, with Truman or Billy Graham with Eisenhower, but most remain obscure. But what matters is not the star power of these advisors, but their spiritual integrity. Let us remember to pray for God to send good and wise counsellors, not only for our president but for all our leaders. Let us also pray that they will not only seek wise spiritual counsel but even more that they will seek the wisest counselor of all: the Word of God!
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. Hebrews 11:9 ESV
On election day, my wife and I arrived at our polling place by 5:45 a.m. “Now that’s an early hour to be voting,” you might exclaim. But we weren’t there to vote. we showed up because it was our job as poll workers. If you came in yesterday, you would have seen my wife Nancy, with a friendly smile, gently showing each person how to put their ballots into the machine. Since I cannot stand for long hours, I sit at a table, hand out the ballots and then explain how to fill them out. As people turn to go to the voting booths, I often add, “Thanks for voting!” After saying this for hundreds of times yesterday, I rarely listened for their replies, until one young Latino, turned to me with a big smile and responded, “That’s why we came here!”
After all the anger, arguing and overall hooting and hollering that goes on every election, we often lose sight of the privilege we have as Americans just to vote. We forget that having the chance to freely vote for our leaders, is a rare commodity in today’s world. Like Abraham, many have left homes, family, and familiar surroundings and by faith have settled here. With Veteran’s Day right around the corner, we need to not only be thankful to God for our blessings, but we should also be grateful for the veterans who have sacrificed and sometimes even given their lives for that blessing. Generation after generation of people have come from all around the world with the phrase, “That’s why I came here!” So, let’s be thankful for that right and ask God how we may use our freedom to share the message of the love of Christ with someone else today!
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1 ESV
In this day of with change happening around us at the speed of light, many of us long for “Those good old days.” So, as an experiment I thought, “let’s turn back the clock sixty-one years, that should be sufficiently long enough ago to qualify as old.” Sixty-one years ago, I sat in seventh grade math class gazing at some long equations on the blackboard, when our P.A. system came on announcing that classes were dismissed for the day. There seemed to be some secret that the teachers knew but wouldn’t tell us. Nevertheless, as I traipsed home with my usual group of buddies, we were delighted to get out early on a beautiful Friday afternoon. But once inside our home I realized something terrible had happened. My mother was weeping, and I heard the television reporting that President Kennedy had been assassinated Yes, those day were old, but often far from good.
Jesus spoke today’s verse on a day far worse and yet far better than that. Judas had already rushed to the high priest to collect his reward for betraying Jesus. The meal had just finished at which Jesus had told his friends that His body and blood would soon be sacrificed. The disciples, though unaware of all the details knew that something awful was just over the horizon. After finishing the final notes of a hymn they quietly followed Jesus out into the night and headed towards their usual place of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Though nothing looked out of the ordinary, that night, their knees began to knock as they walked, and they jumped at every sound in the darkness. Then Jesus, turned, and said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled! You believe in God. Believe also in Me!”
Those guys were no different than any of us today. Maybe that night they longed for, “The Good Old Days’” when they simply followed Jesus around Galilee, watching Him perform miracles, preach to crowds and on one occasion even calm the wind and waves of a storm. But with those days just a memory, Jesus assured them of something even better.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 ESV
That something better is for us as well as them. We no longer need to cling to the “Good Old Days” or even our own lives because, Jesus said He is our Life. He was all they needed then, and Jesus is all we need today. Jesus is far better and more precious than any “Good Old Days.” He makes the lame walk, the blind see and best of all He will lead us all the way to the Father, if we will only trust in Him!
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