Highest Honor

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Barack Obama Sworn In As U.S. President For A Second TermYesterday I blogged about the 3 Bibles President Obama used in taking his oath of office and the significance of placing a hand on God’s Word. I’m not sure what God thinks about all that, but I do know he’s pleased when we put his Word in a place of honor and respect.

Several presidents, when taking their oaths, have put their hands on open Bibles, touching passages significant to them. For example, George W. Bush laid his hand on Isaiah 40:31. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength…” If there’s ever a job that needs renewed and re-renewed strength, it’s a president’s.

But other jobs desperately need the message of that verse, too, such as mothers caring for young children, fathers leading their families, businessmen trying to be ethical, pastors shepherding their congregations, widows struggling with grief… and virtually everyone else. The beauty of God’s Word is that it’s not just for presidents or formal ceremonies. It’s for all mankind.

1958 Bible

This week I ran across my first “adult” Bible, the one my parents gave me at Christmas in 1958. I was 13 and had asked for a Bible with onion skin pages. I felt I’d outgrown my childhood Bible storybook and wanted to appear sophisticated in church and in Sunday school sword drills by being able to flip through those crinkly pages.

My Bible flyleaf is decorated with pithy Christian sayings and references that meant something to me back then, written in the script of a junior high school student. I remember being in love with this Bible until relatives gave me my first study Bible after high school. But the amazing thing about my old Bible is that it’s on an equal par with the “special” Bibles President Obama used during his inauguration.

Even though his Bibles had belonged to some very famous men, what’s most important about them is not who owned or used them, but who wrote them. And that’s the same thing that’s important about my nothing-fancy Bible, which puts mine on the same elevated plane as theirs.

Loved

What they all have in common is that the words inside were supernaturally written by God and are divinely charged with enough power to change lives. And that is why we give honor and respect to God’s Word and on occasion, even give it a part to play in a presidential inauguration.

“Your word, Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 119:89-90)

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)