LAME DUCK PRESIDENTS AND LIFE
PURPOSES
by Pastor Rick Sams
Reading the headlines this President�s Day several headlines
grabbed my attention. The first was of President Bush�s trip to Tanzania
and how the talk on the streets there is not their current visitor, who is
handing them a $698 million grant, but of the one who MAY serve in that office
some day, Barak Obama. Hmmm?
"Out with the old, in with the
new certainly fits the spirit of our age, whether we�re talking presidents
or people.
The next article described another lame duck: George
Washington and his last year in office. It portrayed him as a morose man
who couldn�t wait to escape crushing load of the office he neither sought nor
desired. He couldn�t relax after a day�s work because there was still so
much to do ("Our Founding Lame Duck, William Hogeland, February 18, 2008
NY TIMES online).
To list this president�s precedents would be
daunting. He is still the gold standard for character and
competence. The press gushed over him since he was still revered as a
demigod for his role in the Revolutionary War. Patriotic fever and fervor
was sky high during his administrations.
But in an ironic reversal of
latter day presidents who refuse to believe their negative press, Washington had
trouble accepting all the accolades.
Infighting in his cabinet and the
birth of partisan politics made the job unpleasant at best. Some things
never change. Back problems made pain his everyday companion. He
needed retirement, he told a correspondent, just to make bearable what he
predicted would be a short trip to his death.
How many less famous people
are just waiting to retire and die? Can�t we grab for a different brass
ring than career success, even if that career is birthing a nation?
How
about God�s purpose for your life? Have you thought much about that
lately?
The Bible says God is very interested in your finding and
fulfilling His purpose for your life: "Long before he laid down earth�s
foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to
be made whole and holy by his love…The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me…I
[God] summon…a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I
bring about; what I have planned, that will I do…For I know the plans I have for
you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you
hope and a future…He who began a good work in you will be able to complete
it…You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I
will be found by you, declares the Lord… (Ephesians
1:3-4 Message;
Psalm 138:8; Isaiah 46:11; Philippians 1:6; Jeremiah
29:11-14).