For the spiritual relationship between President and Mrs. Obama to be strong and vital
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
�Genesis 2:24(NIV)
Thank You, O God, that it has always been Your plan for a man to leave his parents and, with his wife, establish a new family unit. We praise You, Lord, that together the husband and wife form an inseparable union, of which �one flesh� is both a sign and an expression of its reality. This is Your purpose and Your way, and we glorify You for it.
Precious Lord, we also thank You today for the �one flesh� union of Barack and Michelle Obama, and we ask You, mighty God, to move in the life of this marriage. Help them, Lord, to grow more intimate with each other, and closer to You, as they serve our nation as president and first lady. Allow them to discover and apply the truths of Your Word, and let that empower their spiritual life as a couple. Make Yourself real to them daily, Lord, by Your great presence and love we pray, amen.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
"It is impossible for men, by any merits of their own, to bring God under obligation to them, so as to make him their debtor. The sum of the discourse is, that when we come before God, we must lay aside all presumption. When we imagine that there is any good thing in us, we need not wonder if he reject us, as we thus take away from him a principal part of the honour which is his due. On the contrary, if we acknowledge that all the services which we can yield to him are in themselves things of nought, and undeserving of any recompense, this humility is as a perfume of a sweet odour, which will procure for them acceptance with God."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin On the Psalms)
In a nutshell, God can never be said to owe us anything because everything we have came from him, anyway. We have nothing good in and of ourselves, that did not come from him.
Titus 3:1-11
Paul gives some basic instructions here. First he tells Titus to remind people to respect the government and be law-abiding. This is an important command for people of Christ. We ought always be seen as law-abiding citizens. Paul also adds that we should be "always ready to lend a helping hand." I'm reminded of a time when I attended a rather large church. We came out of the service one Sunday afternoon, to find a flat tire on our van. I proceeded to change it. It was the first time I had changed a flat on this particular vehicle, and I had some trouble figuring out how to get the spare loose. Not one person of the hundreds that walked by offered to help me. Not one. Hundreds of people who had just heard a message, allegedly from the Bible, who claimed the name of Christ. Walked right by me like I was the battered Samaritan in Jesus's parable.
Paul continues to carry it even further, though. "No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous." Whoa. This gets a little closer to home. No insults. We should probably take this to mean, even when we are alone and the person we are insulting can't hear us. It means I probably shouldn't call the guy who just cut me off in traffic a "stupid moron." In fact, I should probably pray for him. "Bighearted and courteous." Ok.
Basically, we should stop acting like we would have acted before Jesus came in and "gave us a good bath...washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit." Insulting people, fighting with people, these are things that are part of our old nature, which is supposed to be crucified with Christ. Paul tells us to "take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone."