Today’s Scripture Reading (January
17, 2017): Isaiah 26
Last week, I
was very impressed with the farewell speech of Barack Obama. A friend of mine
posted on his Facebook page a few months ago a hope that the Christian
Community would realize the classy way the First Couple has led the United
States over the past eight years. I echo that hope.
Were the Obama’s perfect? Of course not. No Presidential Couple has ever led
the nation perfectly. There is room to
disagree with the former President and his decisions. In fact, I am pretty sure
that President Obama would disagree, at least privately, with some of the
decisions he has made. But that in no way detracts from the class of the
person. My hope is that the people of the United States are proud of the way
the First Black President and his whole family have led the nation. I believe
that President Obama has extended grace, and he should be the recipient of
grace.
There is an essential difference between those who
endeavor to do good and those who desire
to do evil. And maybe the most obvious place to notice that difference is when
the good and the wicked receive grace. The good
respond to grace by recognizing the unmerited favor that they have received from
the very hand of God. It propels them to want to do better in the future. The
wicked, on the contrary, seem to believe that
they are deserving of the grace that they have received. In fact, for the wicked grace means that they can continue to do
wrong. The reception of grace is proof to them that the evil that they have
committed was actually good. There is no
change in behavior. And they refuse to recognize the hand of God.
None of us
are perfect. We all stand in need of grace. In North America, we have received the
grace of God. We need to understand that. And we need to move forward recognizing
the grace we have received from God, and our responsibility is to take that grace and build a better world with it. We can
do it.
Oh, and by
the way, Happy Birthday Michelle Obama. Thank you for your service to the United
States – and to the world – over the past eight years.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Isaiah 27
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