For President Obama and Rev. Joshua DuBois to work together to strengthen and support the work of White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
--Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
O righteous and holy God, You are good in all Your ways, and You concern Yourself with the welfare of all you have made. In Your kindness You see those who struggle and are lost and You help them find their way. I praise You for this, mighty God, and I thank You for Your heart�s deep concern for all who are in need.
Today I bring before You young Joshua Du Bois of the President�s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, asking that You touch him with Your holy hand of blessing, guiding him into the areas of initiative and influence that You desire. Help him as he reaches out and builds relationships with leaders throughout the faith community that he may be used by You to serve Your holy purposes in the lives of the least, the last and the lost�those in great need in our world. I bless You and praise Your holy name, O Jesus, amen.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
"...if persons wish to have a proper method for governing their life well, the law of God alone is perfectly sufficient for this purpose;
"What God promises in the law to those who perfectly obey it, true believers obtain by his gracious liberality and fatherly goodness, inasmuch as he accepts for perfect righteousness their holy desires and earnest endeavours to obey."
(Commentary from Heart Aflame: Daily Readings from Calvin on the Psalms)
1 Peter 2:11-17,21
Don't indulge your ego at the expense of your soul.
It is God's will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society.
Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family.
Here are some questions asked by the book.
1. What, if anything, in this description of "the kind of life Christ lived" surprised you? Nothing surprised me, actually. Nothing at all.
2. What, if anything, in this description fits with what you've been doing lately? Being a good citizen and respecting the authorities. I always try to do this. Even if I don't like them. It's why I pray for the President every day, regardless of whether or not I agree with his policies. Also, doing good in order to "cure the ignorance of the fools who think you're a danger to society." There are quite a few out there who believe that Christians are dangerous, and it's no wonder. Many Christians want to fight with these people; argue with them; enter into legal battles. That's not how Jesus would have us do it. Peter gives us the way that God would have us do this. By doing good.
3. What, if anything, in this description challenges you? Not indulging my ego at the expense of my soul. Ok, here's the deal. My ego is no big thing. My self image is not that much of a problem with me. However, I tend to feed desires that aren't healthy for me, and this is very similar to indulging my ego. Also..."treat everyone...with dignity. Love your spiritual family." These are a big challenge to me. It's not that I think I'm necessarily better than people. I just struggle with treating people nicely sometimes. And there are some in my "spiritual family" that I don't like a whole lot sometimes. It's hard to "love" someone you don't like! But they deserve my love, and I am commanded to love them. And people need to be treated with dignity. Even if they don't seem to have any.
4. Consider the day you have in front of you. How might the ideas of respect, celebration, and living Christ's life fit into it? Very well, in fact. I encounter different people every night. There are a group of guys that I see every day, plus I see people at my dispatch window that I may never see again. I have one chance to have a positive impact on some of these people, and I frequently blow it, majorly. So for this next day, the challenge is to live the kind of life Christ lived. Just for one day. Then I'll deal with the next day. One day at a time.
Carpe vita eternus, friends!