Recent weeks have been tough for America overall. At present, we are faced with an oil spill filling the beautiful gulf coast environment with billions of gallons of sludge. A top military general has been replaced to provide leadership for the war effort in Afghanistan. Sales of new homes plummeted following the recent expiring of the new home buyer tax credit. The only sizable area of job growth has been due to temporary government employees working for the U.S. Census Bureau - all of whom will lose those jobs in a matter of weeks. Political leaders continue to be scrutinized for possible ethics violations. And the list goes on...
Say what you will about President Obama, but if there is one job on the planet I do not wish to have (besides a FIFA World Cup referee) it is his. When Mr. Obama was elected, I vowed that I would pray for him regularly - and I am thankful to say that I am meeting that goal. Even though I disagree with many of this administration's policies, I truly desire for our President to make decisions that are good for America. I want his little girls to be protected and raised well. I pray for his safety against those who would be so sick as to try to do him physical harm. And I pray for God to help me to disagree with grace (which I sometimes fall short of).
One thing we have to keep in mind no matter which party or person is in power - is that God is in charge of His universe. It may not always feel that way when we consider the suffering of this world. But sin is real, and it leads to misery. The good news is that there is a Savior from sin - and this Savior is not a President, or a celebrity, or a billionaire or an athlete. He is Jesus - and He said that His kingdom is not of this world. And He said that His followers are aliens and strangers on this planet who are here as His ambassadors. So I will keep praying for this President...and the next one and the next one...unless there is no next one.
Jesus said "Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me." The early disciples understood this, and while they were definitely engaged in their human citizenship, they saw it as secondary to their heavenly one. So, I plan to remain engaged in the affairs of this planet - but I pray I will never lose sight of the reason I am here. Although I love and give deep thanks for America, I am not primarily an American. Or a voter. Or even a pastor in a formal role as such. I am first and foremost a bearer of grace and truth as I allow Jesus to live His supernatural life through me. What about you? What keeps you anchored to Reality in the midst of the falsehood that surrounds us? Will you pray for the President with me? I hope so. But even more importantly, I want to pray with the Apostle John "Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus..." What say you...?
Love this post! I want to say more but all I can really say is I love this. I've noticed that praying for people whom I disagree with truly puts me at peace. Not in a "well whatever, God is in control anyway" attitude but more of a "God's got a plan and this is obviously part of the process which will eventually lead to something incredible that I may or may nor understand" way. Thanks for some sweet reading material. I'll continue to pray for the president, the people around him, all of washington dc, his family, his critics, all the people we see on TV that we unfortunately never get to sit down with and really get to know. Take care sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting Ryan. You are a good bro...!
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