It all starts here. It has to. One of our most basic emotional needs is to love and be loved, and to know that God loves us unconditionally, sacrificially, and forever is the greatest promise we could ever have. No amount of commentary could better state His everlasting love for us than His own word. So here it is.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“Never will I leave you; Never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5

“For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord who has compassion on you.” Isaiah 54:10

“How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 36:7

“The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Ex. 34:6-7

“Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20

“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else n all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.” Romans 8:39

“Wit everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.” Isaiah 54:8

Let us rest and find relief in God’s great promise of love.

Monday is yet another holiday. This one—Presidents Day—is set aside to honor all of those who have served in the highest position in our country. For many of us, our election process, which has been called “The Great American Experiment”, is both one of questioning and hope.

E.B. White in his short metaphorical definition “Democracy” at one point said that “Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.” (I realize that with our electoral college we don’t go by a straight majority, but the “suspicion” that we got it right I think is still there.)

I read a book quite a few years back by Irving Stone called They Also Ran. It looked at nineteen men who were defeated in their bid for the presidency and why they lost even when some of them were the better man. In his Prologue, Irving asks the following questions that he then attempts to answer as he looks at these nineteen candidates:

“How often were the voters discerning, how often dumb? How frequently were they fooled, and how frequently did they go unerringly to the better man? How often did they elect the apparently superior candidate, only to find that the presidency was the one job in the nation that he couldn't handle? How often did they choose the man who was more capable of solving the existing problems, only to have a radical change in the course of history render his particular qualities useless and make the defeated one the ideal executive to handle the new situations?” (vii).

Fortunately, as Christians, though we may not understand God’s reasoning for placing one individual in office rather than another, we have a certainty that the individual is only there by God’s permission as the following verses remind us.

Romans 13:1––“ … there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”

Daniel 2:21––"It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings ….”

Daniel 2:37-38––“You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory ….”

Daniel 4:17––“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones, In order that the living may know That the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes And sets over it the lowliest of men."

John 19:11  Jesus answered, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above ….”

And let me leave you with one more thought as we consider our past and present presidents and our world leaders:

Psalm 27:1––“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?””

Probably the most beloved president of all time (except perhaps during his actual administration) is Abraham Lincoln, and Monday is his birthday. We often remember the president but too often forget the man of faith.

One of my favorite devotionals is Abraham Lincoln’s Daily Treasure: Moments of Faith with America’s Favorite President. In the book, Editor Thomas Freiling takes some of Lincoln’s sayings and the circumstances surrounding those sayings and works them into a short devotional. I would like to share a few excerpts from this book, unfortunately without much of Freiling’s commentary. However, I believe you will still be able to appreciate them.

Lincoln once said, “”If you make a bad bargain, hug it all the tighter.” Freiling then writes, “For Lincoln, honesty was nonnegotiable. Even if he made a promise that, in the end, wasn’t any good, he still kept his word.”

“Lincoln understood how badly the country wanted God to answer its prayer to end the war––quickly. But in quiet desperation, he begged citizens, ‘Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result.’”

“In a conversation with L.E. Chittenden, Registrar of the Treasury, Lincoln once explained why, at times, he ignored the advice of other people. ‘In almost every instance where I have yielded to the views of others, I have had occasion to regret it,’ he told Chittenden. ‘I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not to do a particular thing, he finds a way of letting me know.’"

“Abraham Lincoln took literally the Bible’s admonition to be the ‘light of the world.’ In a letter, Noah Brooks once wrote of Lincoln, ‘He said that after he went to the White House, he kept up the habit of daily prayer. Sometimes it was only ten words, but those ten words he had.’”

“During his lifetime of trials and tribulations, Lincoln’s disposition was remarkably content. Even during the darkest days of the Civil War, he portrayed a peace that surpassed the nation’s understanding. ’It is difficult to make a man miserable,’ he said, ‘when he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.’”

Words + Actions = Integrity

Frieling, Thomas, Ed. Abrahams Lincoln's Daily Treasures: Moments of Faith with America's Favorite President. Fleming H. Revel: Grand Rapids, MI. 2002.

One of my favorite podcasts is Desert Island Discs hosted by Kirsty Young. I love it for many reasons, but in particular because of one “takeaway.”

During this podcast, Young asks each or her “castaways” to select eight songs that are significant to them in some way, as well as one book and one luxury item that they would like to take with them when they are sent to live out the rest of their life on a desert island. Surrounding these musical selections Young interviews her guest, interviews which reveal the very human side of the celebrity.

Young is an extraordinary interviewer and for excellent reasons. Prior to their meeting she has spent a lot of time reading up on her guest, so she knows a lot about the individual already. She has a series of base questions from which to work, but is not afraid to stray from her script should her guest insert something unexpected. She is also not afraid to ask the pointed or penetrating question in order to clarify or uncover the truth.

However, Young does not lack in guests, so all I can assume is that celebrities want to be on her show and do not feel threatened despite the probing questions. Why? Because she isn’t hostile or judgmental. Only interested.

So here is my takeaway. Often there are those in our own circle that we don’t really know but have already formed opinions about. Perhaps through others’ comments. Perhaps through brief encounters. Before we go sharing those “opinions” perhaps we would do well to follow Kirsty Young’s lead. Perhaps we should take time to get to know them, show a genuine interest in them, and demonstrate that we are listening to them. Perhaps if we didn’t come across hostile or judgmental, they might open up to us and willingly answer our questions.

I am always amazed and pleasantly surprised at how much and what I learn about these celebrities (even those I have never heard of before) by listening to Desert Island Discs, and how much I look forward to hearing the next episode.  I think I need to show that much interest and enthusiasm to those around me.