On January 20, 2017, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas administered the oath of office for Vice-President Pence. It was a first and ought to have been widely lauded as such to inspire young men to pursue careers in justice, not just making a career of protesting for social justice. Clarence Thomas’ administration of the oath as a long-standing Supreme Court Justice was the best of accomplishments and modeled what resurgent manhood looks like.

Continuing my look at black men who are making a real difference, I’d like to look at the life of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who once described his confirmation hearings as a “high-tech lynching.” He’s a man who has flaws, but who rose above them and didn’t deserve to have a bunch of critics pick up a stone and throw it as if they were flawless specimens of humanity. Clarence Thomas endured and overcame.  He provides a positive example of resurgent manhood, not just for black Americans, but for all Americans.

John Piper summarizes Thomas’ life this way:

In the 226-year history of the court, he is the second African-American Supreme Court Justice, after Thurgood Marshall who served from 1967 to 1991.

Clarence Thomas’s life is unusual because he is a black political conservative, who lost his first marriage, conquered rage and alcohol, and survived a high-tech lynching, by holding on to the promises of the Bible.

In Justice Thomas’ memoir Clarence Thomas: My Grandfather’s Son: A Memoir, he recounts an event in the Catholic school he attended,

Some mocked me for trying to ‘talk proper’ and accused me of thinking that I was better than they were.”

Such men have long been considered “uppity blacks” or Uncle Toms or sell-outs to white culture. They are often chastised and become outcasts. Thomas writes,

“How could a black man be truly free if he felt obliged to act in a certain way — and how was that any different from being forced to live under segregation? How could blacks hope to solve their problems if they weren’t willing to tell the truth about what they thought, no matter how unpopular it might be? I already knew that the rage with which we lived made it hard for us to think straight. Now I understood for the first time that we were expected to be full of rage. It was our role — but I didn’t want to play it anymore. I’d already been doing it for too long, and it hadn’t improved my life. I had better things to do than be angry.”

So the quest for resurgent manhood began. Learning what it means or ought to mean to be a black man in America. In doing so, he encountered some brothers who came alongside and mentored him,

“Hearing Thomas Sowell, and speaking to him privately . . . was a landmark event for me.” Along with Sowell, there were Walter Williams and Jay Parker. Thomas said, “[They are] smart, courageous, independent-minded men who came from modest backgrounds. Politics meant nothing to them. All they cared about was truthfully describing urgent social problems, and finding ways to solve them”

That is what resurgence is all about. It’s not black or white or brown. It’s honesty. And it requires faith and courage.

 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ends his memoir with this prayer,

“Lord grant me the wisdom to know what is right and the courage to do it. Amen.”

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/

As that unproductive so-called Women’s March proves, white America has its manhood problems too. But the stirring of God right now is in the black community and Steve Harvey is one among many real men leading the way of resurgence and faith.  He’s not out there protesting.  He’s rolling up his sleeves like a man and working to make an impact–a positive and productive impact–on future generations.  Kudos, sir!

According to the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation,

“The Steve Harvey Mentoring Weekend for Young Men” is a four-day, three-night interactive program designed to share and teach the principles of manhood to young men between the ages of 13-18, who live in a single, female-head of household. This program helps these young men realize their potential and helps them to envision and prepare for a future where they are strong, responsible and productive men.

The goal of The Steve Harvey Mentoring Weekend is to break the misguided traits of manhood and introduce role models who provide positive examples of manhood.

Of course, they also have a Girls Who Rule the World Mentoring Program, the goal being to “enhance the development of young girls and provide a forum to expose them to the benefits and the importance of positive self image, responsible personal conduct, respect for self and others via educational achievement, cultural enrichment and mentoring.”

And you know what? 

Not a single person wearing a knit hat marched in protest to make it possible.  Just Steve and Marjorie Harvey trying to make a difference because it all starts with becoming men and women of respect and goodness.  Their aim is resurgence!

If you read Steve Harvey’s bio on a few web sites, they leave out when he was homeless.  They leave out when he abandoned his first wife and kids.  They leave out all the ugly parts of who Steve Harvey has been in his past, about which he tweeted, “I am who I am, and I was who I was. I’m cool with both people.”  In fact, he views his struggles and failures as having made him who he is, a person with deep and redemptive purpose.

So when Steve Harvey met with President-elect (at the time) Donald Trump, was Mr. Harvey abandoning his principles? Was Mr. Trump encouraging Mr. Harvey to be a sell-out for a photo-op? 

The answer to both questions is “No.”

For all of President Trump’s faults-and they are many-I do believe he sees potential in others.  It’s what developers do.  And Steve Harvey is a developer of human capital.  That’s what his foundation does for boys and girls.  If Mr. Harvey’s efforts can be applauded, highlighted, expanded, and form the basis of total revival for the black community which has been beleaguered for a long time, how can this possibly be a bad thing?  The critics need to leave him alone.  Mr. Harvey lives his organization’s motto:  “Faith doesn’t make it easy.  Faith makes it possible.” 

And looking upon them Jesus said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26)

You’re heroes in my book, Steve and Marjorie Harvey!  Press on!

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/

I’m not black and I’m not a man, but I sure appreciate strong male leadership. I look at men like Steve Harvey, Jim Brown, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr. Benjamin Carson, Jason Riley, LeBron James, and Shelby Steele (among many others) and I’m getting really excited about what God is doing in terms of Resurgence!

The rediscovery of black manhood—a new dawn—and the miracles this resurgence can mean for black communities.

In many respects, we’re in the locker room at halftime and assessing the first half and preparing to take the field again to win the game. Resurgence requires an honest assessment of our execution of play in the first half to bring out our very best!

Former Apple iPhone engineer and author John Gibbs (who is black and male) expressed the problems of the first half this way before expressing his hope at what is ahead :

Black people are in crisis. Families are completely broken, with 70 percent of kids born to single mothers. There’s an astronomical crime rate, extremely poor school performance, and the highest unemployment rate of any racial group. There’s a thug culture that elevates violence, misogyny, and accepting incarceration as inevitable. Studies even show black kids’ popularity decreases as their GPA increases, which means that parts of the culture sadly value being dumb.

I want for you to look again at the problems Gibbs outlines and I’ll add two: gang affiliation and ISIS radicalization, neither of which are confined to black America, but that’s where I’m seeing a stirring of God.  The solutions can start there!  Wow, amazing!

Do you wanna know a dirty little secret about those two problems and why I think the answer may be found in Resurgence?

These violent groups are attractive because males are craving male leadership, father figures, even fathers in many cases and they desperately want brotherhood and strength on display. They want to respect authority—what I’d call black manhood and what has frankly been missing from a generation raised by single mothers and the morality of rap artists whose lyrics too often cry out against police as a legitimate authority. Make no mistake: it’s connected.

In The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright on CBC radio, he interviews Jamil Jivani (a Canadian lawyer, community organizer and professor) whose life work and passion seeks to understand this situation.  Jivani says,

[Changes in employment and educational prospects for men] make for a certain intense experience that groups like ISIS, for instance, or street gangs are experts in dealing with. They have a unique ability and skill in being able to see young men struggling with this new world that they’re growing up in and recruit them. And yet our public schools, our police, our politicians, our media, are almost giving up this fight. We’re retreating from that battleground. We’re saying, we don’t talk about men…We are leaving a space here that is being filled by destruction.

Far south of the Canadian border, author AJ Watson describes it this way:

Part of the allure of gangs is brotherhood—even if it’s one filled with violence and dead-end prospects. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, most members join gangs between the ages of 12 and 15. It’s a delicate time, and in at-risk environments where positive adult male role models are scarce, due in part to high rates of incarceration and death, many boys are left searching for guidance on their journey into manhood. It helps to have strong male mentors meet those outstretched arms before the streets do.

Here’s an inspirational thought: Where one starts in life doesn’t have to doom someone to a bad life.

Enter role models who are competent, smart, kind, educated, gainfully employed, many are Christian, and yeah…they’re all black men. Far from Marc Lamont Hill’s “mediocre Negroes” these are great men on a mission whether they met with President Trump or not. 

There’s a resurgence of real men who may be silent types, athletes, or media personalities.  Their backgrounds and IQs and work skills may be different, but there’s one thing they all have in common: 

Resurgence is in their hearts.

Titus 2: 6 “Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8 and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.”

Enter Steve Harvey. Yes, Steve Harvey met with President Trump not because he voted for him (Harvey endorsed Sec. Clinton), but because Steve Harvey is already trying to use his celebrity to make things better for others. To live a legacy greater than comedy, talk radio, and family feuds.

“Our president (Obama) asked that all of us sit down and talk to one another in order to move our country forward,” the host of Family Feud and The Steve Harvey Show noted in a statement posted to Twitter. “The transition teams on both sides asked me to meet and I’m glad I did.”

Harvey said that Trump “immediately got (HUD secretary nominee) Dr. Ben Carson on the phone to begin dialog in looking for programs and housing to help our inner cities.” He added that the president-elect “seems very open to my mentoring efforts across the country.”

He added, “I walked away feeling like I had just talked with a man who genuinely wants to make a difference in this area. I feel that something really great could come out of this.”

I’m excited about the possibilities too, Mr. Harvey. Thanks for being the man! We know you’re not perfect. No one is, but America and indeed the world need more men like you! Resurgent men, ready to make a difference!

While Black History Month is still a few days away, why wait?  I believe any time is always a good time to start shining a spotlight on the best and brightest among men who are already mindful of the need for Resurgence of Black Manhood and the blessing it can be to all of America!

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• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-and-black-manhoods-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/steve-harvey-resurgence-and-faith/
• http://seminarygal.com/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/benjamin-carson-on-success-and-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/jim-brown-and-black-resurgence/
• http://seminarygal.com/shelby-steele-resurgence-and-political-correctness/
• http://seminarygal.com/walter-williams-and-the-resurgent-solution/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-jason-riley-analyzes-the-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-man-benjamin-watson-values-life/
• http://seminarygal.com/politicized-church-a-two-word-problem/
• http://seminarygal.com/resurgent-solutions-of-guiding-and-mentoring/

Today, Donald J. Trump will place his hand on the Lincoln Bible and take the oath of office to serve the American people as our 45^th President. I cannot remember a time in my life when a President has been the target of so many arrows even prior to taking office. I believe it’s important that Christians pray for him, just as we do for all of our leaders. It’s time for Christians to put aside party politics and be Christian as their first priority. President Trump deserves our prayers as encouragement to walk a path God puts before him and to do it with the strength of Christ, perseverance, and grace knowing that the path is one God chose and President Trump is simply one leader—a legitimate leader—because God put him there.

Way too many Christians don’t want to believe Romans 13:1-10 except when it applies the person they voted for. But that’s not how the Bible works, and it’s not what God says.  Real Christians read Romans 13:1-10 and know it means everyone submits and all authorities are established by God.

To all those government officials staying home from the Inauguration, I would recommend reading Romans 13:1-10 until it sinks in that what they’ve chosen to do is to dishonor God. To rebel against God. And just as God put President Obama in place for eight years to bring America to its current place, God has put President Trump in office to continue God’s work in America.

Make no mistake, we are not God’s chosen people. America is not God’s Promised Land. But rather, all nations are as a drop in the bucket (Isaiah 40:13-31) and God uses our elected leaders to remind us that we cannot look to them. We must look to God for He is God alone.

Truthfully, I look upon President Trump with a great deal of sympathy. He’s a sinner just like me. He has stepped forward at a time in our nation to put his prior skills in business to use in order to help this country. But instead of cheering on the work that benefits us all, far too many of us have chosen to sharpen and gnash our razor teeth on anything resembling red meat thrown in our direction by political irreligious people and media types who want nothing but to tear him down. That behavior is ungodly and pathetic.

I have taken a few arrows in my time, but nothing like what President Trump has been experiencing. My heart is sympathetic toward him and my commitment in 2017 has been to pray for him every day without fail. To pray for his family—his wife Melania, his son Barron, and his adult children and their families. To pray for his cabinet, some of the best and brightest our country has to offer. And in so many cases, their lives would be easier if they were simply to sit on the sidelines and do nothing like the rest of us. Instead they’re sacrificing a lot to serve us and getting treated viciously in the process.

President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech called The Man in the Arena, spoke some very profound words about such heroes.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

I have that quote on the bulletin board in my study to remind me of the value of my many failures and how critics will always criticize. Christian and critic only have a few letters in common and that’s about all.

Instead of choosing to do the devil’s work of stealing, killing, destroying…and rebelling against God by those very actions, Christians need to be Christians first and so I invite you to join me in praying for President Trump.

Father God, You alone are God. We praise You for the peaceful transition of power in the United States and for Your hand of grace upon this nation. We thank You for giving us a new beginning with a new administration and for the work we know You are faithfully doing in this country. We thank You for President Trump whom You have established because Your Word says You have. We ask that he will glorify You by being President of all the people in this country and that he will seek Your face and lead with Your wisdom. We ask for Your protection over him, that Your holy angels will establish a guard around him as he does the work You have prepared in advance for him to do. By Your grace, may they shield his family and preserve them from the legion of evil arrayed against them. We thank You for the preparation You have given to him in the business world and in communications so that he might lead with wisdom and love. We ask for Your favor and restoration when he fails and to restore his confidence in times he stumbles. We pray for Your strength when times get difficult, Your clarity when things seem unclear, for Your will to be done with energy and zeal, and that Your miracles would unfold, revealing Your goodness and love as answers to prayer by the many people who prayed Your will be done in the election. May the Gospel go forth into the nations as we take our light to the world. May we be known as a Christian nation, a people who look to You. Be with America, LORD. Be with Your people in the US and around the world. Be with President Trump and guide him for our good and Your glory. Be glorified in us and our actions, LORD. In Jesus’ mighty Name, Amen.

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This series on praying for our national leaders is archived beginning January 17, 2017 and included:

A Prayer for President and Mrs. Obama

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence

A Prayer for President Trump and Family

On Friday January 20^th just prior to the swearing in ceremony for President-elect Donald J. Trump, our Vice-President Mike Pence will be placing his hand on the Reagan family Bible, opened to the same passage the 40th US President Ronald Reagan used (2 Chronicles 7:14). It’s a passage of Scripture originally meant for God’s chosen people, the Israelites, but I love that the principle still applies to us today–that a nation which humbly seeks God and His ways will always find our God is willing to heal and forgive.  Isn’t God amazing?

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14 )

Vice-President Mike Pence will take the oath of office administered by our fellow Christian and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, the first time an African-American justice will have been given that high honor.

It’s a beautiful symbol of racial healing and our oneness in Christ.

According to the Christian Post:

“President Ronald Reagan placed his faith in a loving God and the goodness of our country. He set out to change a nation and in doing so, he changed the world. In the march of history, Ronald Reagan’s time in office was limited, but his legacy inspired a generation and will continue beyond,” Pence said in a statement. “It will be humbling to enter office with President Donald Trump, standing next to my family, with my wife Karen holding the same Bible used by President Reagan when he took office.”

Christians, irrespective of political party, should rejoice that our next Vice-President and his wife Karen are both devout Christians. They deserve our kindness, not only because of the office the Vice-President holds, but because they belong to the family of faith. We should therefore avoid anything that tears down a fellow Christian in accordance with the Word of God which states emphatically,

Ephesians 4: 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

We as Christians owe it to … Jesus … to treat our Christian brothers and sisters with kindness. We ought to pray for them because their job is hard, the opposition to God’s work is always fierce, and the task is one God appointed them to do for His glory.

It’s time for Christians to be Christians first.

Toward that end, here is a prayer for Vice-President Mike Pence:

We praise You, our Father in heaven, for Your establishment of authority and for Your wisdom regarding America’s past, present, and future. We thank You, Father, that You hear our prayers and answer them. We are grateful for Vice-President Pence and his wife and their love for You. We ask, LORD, during his tenure in public service, he would never fail to seek Your will for this country. We thank You for the sacrifice their family is making to serve the USA and for their obedience to You.

We pray for Your protection over them and their family. Guard their hearts against discouragement and give them strength to pursue Your will with whole and full hearts. Keep all evil from them, including the arrows of our adversary with words meant to steal their joy, kill their spirits, and destroy the work You have put them in office to do.

Thank You LORD, for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence’s service to this country, build them up, honor their obedience, and bless them with success as they faithfully pursue Your call.

Amen.

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This series on praying for our national leaders is archived beginning January 17, 2017 and included:

A Prayer for President and Mrs. Obama

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence

A Prayer for President Trump and Family

The next installment in our prayer for America’s leaders and our gratitude for their service, we offer this prayer for outgoing Vice-President Joe Biden and his family.  They too will experience the sudden departure from what has been normal life for the past eight years.  They deserve our prayers.

Why do we pray for our leaders? 

Well, the Bible instructs us that we pray for one another because it honors God and it pleases Him.  Furthermore, James tells us that prayer brings about healing and hope and the prayers of a righteous person are highly effective (James 5:16).  Beyond prayers for everyone, however, the Bible makes a special point of telling us to pray for those in authority, those who rule over us (see verse 2 below).

1 Timothy 2:1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone– 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior.

So here is our prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden:

We praise You, our Father in heaven, for the past eight years of Vice-President Biden’s leadership. You, O LORD, ordained it and we praise You. We ask that You would continue the work of healing the Biden family after the loss of Beau and would grant them a special sense of Your love, comfort, and peace. We thank You for the Vice-President’s devotion to public service and for his modeling of the fine art of friendship. We ask, LORD, that You would be with them, leading them to deeper knowledge of You. May your Holy Spirit guide them to works of charity and goodness so that their blessing to many will be an ongoing pursuit.   Thank You LORD, for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden’s service to this country and bless them in their future journey. Amen.

.

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This series on praying for our national leaders is archived beginning January 17, 2017 and included:

A Prayer for President and Mrs. Obama

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence

http://seminarygal.com/a-prayer-for-president-trump-and-family/

For any of us who have ever lost a job, retired, or left the workforce for parenting, illness, or another job, the sudden change is often difficult.  It doesn’t have to be bad in order to be an abrupt departure from one’s prior activities.  Changes like this are often difficult to manage.  Therefore, I believe the Christian’s responsibility is to pray as President and Mrs. Obama experience this time of transition. 

We praise You, our Father in heaven, for the past eight years of President Obama’s leadership. You, O LORD, ordained it and we praise You.  We ask, LORD, that what has brought glory to You will yield a harvest of righteousness, fruit that will last and provide a happy legacy for President Obama. We ask, LORD, that President and Mrs. Obama will find a blessed rest and freedom away from the burdens of leadership, that they will find refreshment in their love for each other and their love for Malia and Sasha; and they will be able to easily acclimate to life outside of the White House.  Be with them, LORD, and lead them to deeper knowledge of You and may your Holy Spirit guide them to works of charity and goodness so that they will be a blessing to many.   Thank You, LORD, for President and Mrs. Obama’s service to this country and bless them in their future journey. Amen.

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This series on praying for our national leaders is archived beginning January 17, 2017 and included:

A Prayer for President and Mrs. Obama

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence

A Prayer for President Trump and Family

This week marks the time in American culture every 4 years in which we either celebrate a second term of an incumbent President or welcome—in the tradition of our Republic—a peaceful transition of power. A passing of the baton in a race we all run together as Americans.

Why would our Republic allow for a peaceful transition of power? Well, our founders recognized this biblical truth:

Romans 13:1 Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

That means the past eight years have been established by God. It means the next four are as well and in both cases, it is true irrespective of how we feel or felt about it.

Why?

Because Christians and all others in the culture are supposed to honor that God-ordained establishment of authority. Moreover, I’d argue that a transition of public servants is more likely to be God-honoring because one obdurate leader more easily becomes a tyrant than ones with term limits.

For those Christians out there who are tempted with chants of “Not My President!” to consider a duly elected leader illegitimate or through harassment of fellow Americans, make them turn their faces from what is peaceful and God-honoring, my advice would be to think very soberly about what you’re doing. God says that the one giving in to such temptations is rebelling against God and we are only bringing judgment upon ourselves by doing it.

Romans 13:2 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

See? I don’t make this stuff up.

Furthermore, this verse doesn’t apply only to those authorities we like. It isn’t like God says “Submit to rulers you like and those you don’t? Aw, forget it. No biggie.”

It’s a biggie. It’s a biggie because you’re basically saying you know better than God and trust me, you don’t.  I don’t either.  In fact, no one but God knows what God intends to accomplish through any ruler.  What do we know?  We know that God put that person there to do it. (Read Romans 13:1-8)

So this and the next 4 installments will be an invitation to pray for the outgoing leaders as well as those incoming. It’s what Christians are supposed to do as a peaceful transition of power in submission to God Himself.

Let’s pray: We praise You, our Father in heaven, that You know all things past and present, that You alone know the future, and where Your plan is headed. Forgive us, Lord, for failing to heed Your appointment of leaders and for finding faults in them. Too often using our words to harm other human beings knowing that our Lord and brother Jesus feels every insult we do and say against our neighbor. Please forgive us, Lord, for not using times of disagreement to bring our prayers before You for our protection, to gain Your  wisdom, Your grace upon us, and for strength to persevere even when we do not understand. Keep our hands from hatred and violence, and our thoughts from evil. Keep our souls pure. Guide us toward what glorifies You. Specifically, Lord, today we pray in agreement with Your Word, that You will allow a peaceful transition of power from Your prior servant to Your next servant and no ill will befall anyone who has come together to participate in that which You ordained. You are God alone. And we are thankful, Lord Jesus.  Bless us and bless our leaders. Amen.

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This series on praying for our national leaders is archived beginning January 17, 2017 and included:

A Prayer for President and Mrs. Obama

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Biden

A Prayer for Vice-President and Mrs. Pence

A Prayer for President Trump and Family

After nearly eight full years of an historic presidency, President Barack Obama has had his farewell tour with a speech in Chicago, final interviews as President, and awarded his last Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor to a lifetime politician, his Vice-President Joe Biden. Now what? In Biden’s prior reflection upon his impending retirement, “’I’ve never been gainfully employed in my life,’ he said as the audience laughed. ‘I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do.’”  All humor aside, what do you do about your legacy when all you’ve done previously comes to an end? What does retirement mean? Is it truly the end? Or just a new beginning?

Is it merely a page turn in a book that’s still being written?

I’d argue that retiring TO some activity or FOR IT is far better than retiring FROM something. TO and FOR are future and filled with hope and promise and excitement. FROM sees life in the rearview mirror with a degree of sadness that what you loved has ended. I don’t know about you, but my lifetime achievements won’t be done until my life is.

The Bible’s Qohelet reminds us in Ecclesiastes 9 there is but one destiny that awaits all the living (and I’d add unless Christ should return first but Qohelet can be forgiven because he lived before Jesus Christ was born). That reminder? Life is full of opportunity and hope!  Embrace it!

Ecclesiastes 9: 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope–even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. … 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Verse 10 is good advice for retirement. As long as there is breath in your lungs, you have good and productive work ahead of you, even if it will change as your age and physical condition permit. Same book, different page.

• I hope and pray that President Obama and Vice-President Biden will find freedom from the snare of power. Its pull is unrelenting. It’s a lust to be sure. I pray they will find useful work to retire to, work that will help and inspire and give them joy as a stronger force counteracting the pull to selfish ambition and power.
• I pray their work will be to use their former positions to roll up their sleeves, bring attention to a genuine need, and get their hands dirty in a worthy cause of helping the less fortunate to good and godly ends. It’s a better retirement goal than criticizing and tearing down one’s successors.
• I pray that President Obama and Vice-President Biden, and their families will throw their energies into building a lasting and notable legacy of goodness and productivity, one that will reflect the privilege they know they were given for a time and the grace to acknowledge the page turning on their legacies from power to charity.

Qohelet’s perspective would serve them well, including what follows in Ecclesiastes 9: 11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them…17 The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools. 18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Time and chance … and page turns … happen to us all. 

Embrace the simple work of goodness, the hidden beauty of charity, and the quiet words of wisdom in retirement. 

Then, living life will be a very good thing, seeing a beautiful blank page full of promise just waiting for us to roll up our sleeves and make the most and the best of every opportunity! 

Continuing this rumination about legacy and fame and how selfish ambition can destroy one’s soul, I will share with you something about my approach to information. I go to the Bible first. It’s my compass, in this case to distinguish a good desire for success from a not-good lust for fame. And then I go everywhere in search of the truth for comparing against what the Bible tells me. I have certain media outlets that arrive uninvited to my news feed on my laptop, others uninvited to my phone, and I have others I will intentionally visit. But then there are ones I must dig to find. Such is the case with a quote about fame I heard while watching an interview with Glenn Beck on Tucker Carlson’s new show on FOX.

Before some of you ditch this post because of Beck or FOX, keep in mind that without hearing both sides of current events, a person only gets one side and often ends up getting it wrong. Glenn Beck said something very profound and if one only watches CNN or sees the auto-newsfeed chosen by Google, Bing, Yahoo, or Apple, one would miss this transcript statement that I eventually found on AdWeek’s online site

BECK: “I think this job, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. I wouldn’t wish the fame on my worst enemy. I think fame is more corrosive than anything else. It is a horrible, horrible thing if you don’t have perspective.”

That perspective reflects what my first source, the Bible, says about fame as selfish ambition:

Philippians 2: 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

PJ Media describes Carlson’s interview this way, that it was a…

“doozy…with conservative rabble rouser Glenn Beck, and the host didn’t hold back when it came to questions about faith, the nature of God’s calling, and the fickle nature of fame, among other topics. Carlson started right out of the gate asking Beck a tough question:

CARLSON: Over the past year and a half, nobody has argued more forcefully or more fervently against Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy than multimedia veteran Glenn Beck. … At one point he predicted that four years of the Trump presidency would lead to civil war or worse … So where is Glenn Beck on all of this now?”

[my note:  Time and reality had given Beck some perspective, which is a good thing.]

Beck concluded his recollection … by stating that he is “not going to endorse anybody ever again.”

Later on in the interview, Beck waxed philosophical on the nature of fame. When Carlson asked Beck if he would recommend the news business to his kids, the founder of The Blaze noted that the desire for fame is unhealthy and leads to a false sense of sanctimony.

At the end of the interview, Carlson asked Beck, “How do you avoid that (i.e. falling prey to fame)?”

Beck said,

You get out the minute you want it. The minute you want it you will start making pacts with the devil.”  Carlson: “When you want fame for its own sake?” Beck: “Yeah”

Refrigerator magnet wisdom as lauded by Carlson, and here’s further truth about fame: the Bible calls “wanting it” selfish ambition and vain conceit and tells us “Don’t.”

Just don’t.