Category Archives: Submitting to God

I swear….

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Barack Obama Sworn In As U.S. President For A Second TermToday was a big day for the United States when our 44th president was sworn into his second term as the nation’s leader. Barack Obama did what most presidents before him have done during the ceremony; he put his hand atop a Bible held by his wife while reciting his formal oath of office.

Why a Bible?

“Swearing” on the Word of God brings the authority of the Almighty into the promises being made. It’s a gesture indicating that the oath-taker is aware of God as his witness and as a result, plans to follow through with what he’s saying he will do… for God and for us.

Here’s what he said today: “I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God.”

I heard our president say these words and know in his heart he’ll try his best to follow through. And I’m impressed that most presidents make this all-important promise with a hand on the Bible. In President Obama’s case, it was two Bibles. Well, actually, three.

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Since the official Inauguration Day fell on a Sunday this year, he took his oath privately yesterday using Michelle’s family Bible (originally purchased at Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute Bookstore). Today his hand rested on a stack of two  more Bibles, those belonging to Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.

As I saw his hand resting on the Scriptures, I thought of how significant it would have been had he chosen to use his own Bible. Since he testifies to being a Christian, I would assume he has a copy of his preferred translation for private reading and personal study. (Maybe these days he uses a Bible app. But what about before iphones?)

I wish I could have seen that Bible, our president’s Bible, as the underpinning of his oath of office today. Maybe it has a well-worn cover and rumpled pages from faithful use. Maybe the binding is loose and the bookmark-ribbon frayed. Had he used it, it would have made a powerful statement of his relationship with the Lord at a pivotal moment in history (both for us, and for him).

It’s possible that offense might have been taken by some watching, but the sight of his well-loved, well-used Bible would have boosted my confidence with respect to what will unfold for our country’s citizens and for the world during these next four years.

Barack Obama Sworn In As U.S. President For A Second Term

But regardless of the Bible choices he made, and I know they were made with care, I’m glad God’s Word was acknowledged at the inauguration and that President Obama chose (despite speculation otherwise) to put a powerful exclamation point at the end of his oath: “…so help me God.”

And I’m sure God will.

“He swore an oath by the One who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it.” (Revelation 10:6)

 

Selfish or Selfless?

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My little house has 3 bedrooms: one large, one medium, and one closet-sized. We’ve taken the large bedroom and made it more like a camp cabin, putting the emphasis on sleeping space.

The room has a variety of beds with one king, one double, one twin, one twin-size floor mat, room for another twin in the closet and two mattresses stuffed under existing beds. Although there are ample blankets and pillows (at one point I counted 32 pillows), once in a while there are still problems.

“I need a flat pillow… a fluffy one… one without feathers.”

Or, “Where’s my favorite pillow?”

As the pillows get passed around, “favorites” get lost. Since I’m lucky enough to sleep in a different room, I have charge of my own favorite pillow. But one day I decided to choose (and hide) a spare, just in case.

I plucked one of the best pillows from the pile with just the right depth and feel, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and stashed it under my bed. That way, if anyone “borrowed” my bed pillow and failed to return it, my back-up would be ready. And then I promptly forgot about it.

Stashed

Several years passed until yesterday, when I was in a cleaning frenzy and decided to pull everything out from under my dressers and bed. There were old Christmas cards, sandals, a bin of papers, extension cords, a folded rug, boots…. and my pillow. I hadn’t even remembered it was there.

The pillow was still clean and in great condition, but as I pulled it out of the bag, it struck me what a waste it had been to stuff it under my bed like that. Truthfully, it was selfish and might even have qualified as hoarding, which is “to accumulate a supply of something that’s hidden or carefully guarded for preservation or future use.”

That’s exactly what I was doing with my pillow. If I was a squirrel, hoarding would have been commendable, but in my case, I was just refusing to share.

A pillow may be a small thing, and we had 31 others people were able to use. But the principle of withholding something good so others can’t use it and saving it for self is a serious fault.

Even more important than sharing a pillow, however, is sharing the other things God gives us, like spiritual blessings. For example, if we’re saved by Jesus, we should eagerly introduce him to others. If we’ve been given spiritual insights, we should willingly share them. And if we have opportunities to serve someone in need, we should offer to do so. Spiritual blessings that are hoarded put us in disobedience to the Lord.

But God knows that sometimes sharing is really hard. Once in a while it goes against our natural leanings so significantly that it’s a major sacrifice to do it. But that’s what makes it valuable to him and important for us. In my case, maybe it would be easier to share if I looked at every selfish impulse in the light of God’s opinion.

If I did, I know I’d never again stuff a pillow under my bed.

“Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16)

Slammed

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Bucket ListIn recent years, a popular trend for people my age has been to make a bucket list, an inventory of everything one hopes to do before dying. For example: travel to Paris, take piano lessons, conquer a fear of flying, learn a new language.

I don’t have a bucket list but do have the flip side of that, a mental record of all the things I hope not to do, things like trying to run through a plate glass window. Regretfully, I checked that off yesterday.

It wasn’t that I didn’t have a reason. I’d accidentally left my debit card sticking out of the ATM machine at the bank and 30 minutes later realized it. Racing back with the hope it would still be there, my heart sank when it wasn’t.

And that’s where the I-hope-not list got checked. Racing toward the glass double doors of the bank, I paid no attention to the recent remodeling that had made a set of double doors into one door and one panel of glass. When I bolted into the panel, it didn’t open even an an inch.

Immediately I got the chance to experience item #2 on the I-hope-not list: a split lip.

Come on in...

As soon as the stars cleared, I walked through the real door and into the bank, embarrassed by what had happened. But unbeknownst to me, my lip was dripping blood, and the teller’s face showed alarm. But she handed me my card without comment, so I smiled (ouch), and headed for the car’s visor-mirror (ugh).

Sometimes we rush through life at such break-neck speeds we don’t see what God is trying to show us. Maybe it’s a piece of guidance he wants to give or a new idea, possibly an important chiding or a practical interpretation of Scripture. If he considers it valuable enough and we still can’t see it, he might let us run right into it.

We may even end up with the spiritual version of a split lip, a blast of circumstances that hurts deeply. The reason behind them may not be visible, but being forced to endure them can be tantamount to a blast of unanticipated pain that shocks the system and leaves damage behind. But how can we prepare for what’s invisible?

We trust the One behind it.

Once we commit our lives to the Lord, whatever comes after that is part of his grand plan whether we see it coming or not. We can be sure we’ll encounter both the good and the bad, the honorable and dishonorable, split profits and split lips. The reality is, if it happens, we needed it.

Slammed...

My split lip is unsightly, but eventually it’ll heal and disappear. As a result of my I-hope-not experience, I’m fairly sure I’ll never miss “seeing” that invisible sheet of glass again, which is why a split lip can actually be a good thing.

But then again, I just might decide to stick with the bank’s drive-through.

“Though you have not seen him, you love him.” (1 Peter 1:8)