As I warm up my fingers and get ready to type, my eyes are fixed on the spot in the sky where the sun is straining to illuminate the day. The current temperature is 1 degree and there is a beautifully eerie haze with an occasional flash of snow dust swirling about. I feel like I’m in a scene from Frozen, which is a Disney favorite of several of my granddaughters. In the background, the chatter on the TV is abuzz with today’s Presidential Inauguration being moved indoors due to this arctic blast.
With many people having the day off work or school to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I’m sure that the viewing of this inauguration will be high. On January 20, 2017, the Washington Post published this: “Inaugural addresses tend to be conciliatory and uplifting. Marking the transfer of power after the end of a heated campaign, these speeches are usually seen as a way of healing the country and rallying its people by reminding us all of our shared values.” By those measures, Donald Trump's speech was anything but traditional. Trump didn't speak for long — 18 minutes or so — but the message he sent was clear: “Politics, politicians, and the entire political class don't care about you and never have. I do. Things are bad, bordering on terrible right now. I will fix them. All of them.” And a direct quote during his inauguration speech, Donald J. Trump, “The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action”.
Well, that’s the political million-dollar question, not just for Trump, but for any president who just spent several months on the campaign trail, promising this or claiming that, WILL THEY ACT ON THEM? Time will soon tell if this particular Commander in Chief is able to put his money where his mouth is and take action instead of just talking about it. And it’s a question for each and every one of us too.
In the book of Proverbs, chapter 14 gives us many examples of the life of wise choices vs. that of foolish choices. Verse 23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." This week’s devotions homed in on Jesus' desire for Peter to raise the bar, to raise his commitment level to Christ by caring for the flock that Jesus came to rescue. Peter’s claim should match his commitment. Empty claims lead to empty results.
As we all wait with bated breath and a magnifying glass in hand on Trump and his administration, waiting and hoping to see real action and positive change, I pray that we would be more focused on living for Jesus and not a life of empty living. God demands that our claim match our commitment!
With many people having the day off work or school to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I’m sure that the viewing of this inauguration will be high. On January 20, 2017, the Washington Post published this: “Inaugural addresses tend to be conciliatory and uplifting. Marking the transfer of power after the end of a heated campaign, these speeches are usually seen as a way of healing the country and rallying its people by reminding us all of our shared values.” By those measures, Donald Trump's speech was anything but traditional. Trump didn't speak for long — 18 minutes or so — but the message he sent was clear: “Politics, politicians, and the entire political class don't care about you and never have. I do. Things are bad, bordering on terrible right now. I will fix them. All of them.” And a direct quote during his inauguration speech, Donald J. Trump, “The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action”.
Well, that’s the political million-dollar question, not just for Trump, but for any president who just spent several months on the campaign trail, promising this or claiming that, WILL THEY ACT ON THEM? Time will soon tell if this particular Commander in Chief is able to put his money where his mouth is and take action instead of just talking about it. And it’s a question for each and every one of us too.
In the book of Proverbs, chapter 14 gives us many examples of the life of wise choices vs. that of foolish choices. Verse 23 says, “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." This week’s devotions homed in on Jesus' desire for Peter to raise the bar, to raise his commitment level to Christ by caring for the flock that Jesus came to rescue. Peter’s claim should match his commitment. Empty claims lead to empty results.
As we all wait with bated breath and a magnifying glass in hand on Trump and his administration, waiting and hoping to see real action and positive change, I pray that we would be more focused on living for Jesus and not a life of empty living. God demands that our claim match our commitment!