Transformation of Trump…and All of Us

Thank you very much, everybody.
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Complicated business.
Complicated.              – President-Elect Donald Trump

With those words, the man who will likely become the 45^th president of the United States publically greeted his staff and supporters in the early morning hours following Election Day, 2016.  Donald Trump’s acceptance speech signaled the end of one phase of his “complicated business” of leading what he calls a “great movement” to “Make America Great Again.”  Meanwhile, his opponent, Sec. Hillary Clinton, her many supporters and many others across the nation were in stunned amazement at the reports of what Trump had just accomplished with no prior experience in public office.

President-Elect Donald J. Trump and VP-Elect, Mike Pence

A very cheery Donald Trump addressed positive words of assurance to our wounded and divided nation following the bitter campaign.  As if he was speaking into the heart of every American, he promised to serve well as their president, saying,

I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.

With a much smaller budget for his campaign and with a much less elaborate “ground game,” Donald Trump accomplished what few believed he could do.  Trump’s key to success was that he understood the outcry of many Americans who want less government and a humble, servant spirit from those in Washington.  Trump addressed this fact with the following words:

As I've said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign but rather an incredible and great movement, made up of millions of hard-working men and women who love their country and want a better, brighter future for themselves and for their family.

Having witnessed the lack of hope and the frustration on so many faces of Americans across the country, and now this night suddenly realizing that his shoulders will soon bear the weight of presidential responsibilities, Trump renewed his commitment to the American people (emphasis mine),

It is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will. … I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me.

This afternoon when I heard these recorded words from President-Elect Trump, I was much encouraged by his vision for the federal government—“a government to serve the people.”  My immediate response was to ask myself whether this often brash, unpredictable man can be a “servant leader” or “steward-leader”—one who can exercise stewardship of the power and privilege entrusted to him by the citizens he serves, and ultimately entrusted by God to Whom all power belongs.  Only time will tell.  But for now, we should thank God for allowing the uncontested selection of our next president, and for allowing the respectful acknowledgement of Trump’s victory by his opponent.  Both of these processes will aid in the reuniting of our country.

If Donald Trump is to be an effective steward leader he will need the prayers of Christ-followers across our land and the world who acknowledge that all power comes from God.  Christians should remember that true steward leadership grows from humility.  A humble leader serves the people well and does not abuse his power.  He or she remembers his own puniness and depravity in the presence of Almighty God.  Or in the words of Vice President-Elect Mike Pence whom I respect as a proven servant leader we must regularly “bend the knee and bow the head” in prayer to God.  We can continue pray that God will spiritually transform Donald Trump through his association with godly men of proven character like Mike Pence, Mike Huckabee, Franklin Graham, and Ben Carson.

In a 2012 article, Character Qualities of a Steward-Leader, I referred to President Ronald Reagan as an example of one whose leadership was successful because he acknowledged the sovereignty of God in the affairs of nations.  Reagan also demonstrated godly character in his dealings with others and through his respect for the spiritual heritage of America.  Speaking at a prayer breakfast shortly after his election as governor of California, in 1967, Reagan said,

Faith in God is absolutely essential if a person is to do his best.  Sometimes we’re afraid to let people know that we rely on God.  Belief in the dependence on God is essential to our state and nation.  This will be an integral part of our state as long as I have anything to do with it.

King Solomon also recognized the supreme authority of God over his rule and acknowledged his desperate need of God’s wisdom and strength.  At the beginning of his administration, Solomon prayed,

Now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in…So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?  It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord. – King Solomon (1 Kings 3: 7, 9, 10)

Could it be that God has bestowed the Presidency of the United States upon Donald Trump so that, in the words of pagan King Nebuchadnezzar,

…the living may know
that the Most High [God] is Ruler
over the realm of mankind,
and bestows it on whom He wishes,
and sets over it the lowliest of men. – Daniel 4: 17

Neither Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, or King Solomon were born with exemplary moral character.  However, throughout history God has graciously worked in the lives of men and women to prepare them to be godly leaders.  The Apostle Paul, in Ephesians 2: 10 writes,  We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

If you are a Christ-follower, please pray that God will transform the life of Donald Trump as he senses the full weight of responsibility that is about to be on his shoulders.  Pray that Trump will humbly respond to God’s call in his life through circumstances, through godly mentors, and through the prayers and encouragement of God’s people that we will recognize and exercise our responsibility to pray for our next president, his family, and those he will choose to serve with him.

The “Greatest Subject” Subjects Himself

We began the Oikonomia blog on August 1 with an entry entitled “God: The Greatest ‘Subject?’” to provoke some discussion, particularly around the following logic: God is the subject of the greatest book ever written, the Holy Bible, which is a tremendous reservoir of knowledge. Therefore, He might be considered the “Greatest Subject.”

On the other hand, the Bible reveals God as subject to no one because He owns all and is ruler of all; He is King of creation not a steward or caretaker on behalf of a master. But wait! Has God indeed been subject? We asked this question on August 1, then proceeded to discuss in subsequent entries how God did subject His creation to be under the dominion of humans who were commanded to serve as stewards. But humankind rejected their honorable role as ruling subjects, and God brought judgement upon them and their descendants.

Some would argue that God is unjust in judging humans for our failure. If He is truly God and our Creator, isn’t He being unjust to subject creation to our care then bring judgement for our failure? Indeed, isn’t God unjust on two counts. First, how can a righteous God be so unsympathetic toward mankind whom He created? Second, how can a supposedly omniscient God even know the limitations of our humanness as created beings in contrast to His divinity?

In response to the first indictment, the Bible reveals God as a Creator Who is fully aware of our limitations. For example, in a summary of the history of the nation of Israel in Psalm 78, Asaph recounts how the nation rebelled against God and writes in verses 38-39:

But He, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them;
And often He restrained His anger And did not arouse all His wrath.
Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, A wind that passes and does not return.

And, David writes of God’s knowledge in Psalm 103:14:

For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

But how can we believe that the God of heaven is truly “mindful of our condition?” After all, He is God and we are not. This second indictment has an ontological basis; namely, that God’s nature as “spirit being” prevents Him from relating across a “great divide” to humans who reside in a body of flesh, made from the dust of Earth. How can God know what it is like to be human? Perhaps if He were to subject Himself to the limitations and temptations we face, we could believe that He really is mindful of our frailty.

The fact is, according to the biblical revelation, God has done just that. The “Greatest Subject” through His divine Son, Jesus Christ, became the subject of the limitations of the human condition and the subject of the imperfect judgement, ridicule, misunderstanding, scorn, and abuse of humans. Paul recounts in Philippians 2: 3-11 how Christ Who existed in the very form of God, ontologically speaking, emptied Himself, not of His deity, but of His divine right to act apart from the will of His Father in heaven. Therefore, in Christ, the perfect God-man, we see God coming across the “great divide” as a servant and steward of His Father’s kingdom to represent the very nature of God to mankind while experiencing all of the limitations of humanness, yet without sin. Being the sinless “lamb”, Jesus Christ could make the ultimate sacrifice, bearing our sin and rebellion on the cross which caused at that unique point in all eternity, His separation from the Father (spiritual death), the price necessary to bring atonement for our sins (Romans 6:23).

Philippians 2:1-11 is a fitting passage to read at Christmas time. As you read it, consider the imagery of heaven’s glory, the manger scene in Bethlehem, the meekness of Jesus as He walked this Earth serving, teaching, and healing many, and then dying a cruel death on a Roman cross. God is indeed the “Greatest Subject” because He became the Servant, the Steward Who would first identify with humanity both in life and in death; then, be raised to Eternal Life to make way for all who will subject themselves to accept Him as their perfect sacrifice to cover sin. His shed blood purchases (redeems) the believer from the slave market of sin and enables us through the power of His Holy Spirit to be bondservants and stewards in service of the King as we conduct our affairs humbly and justly on the Earth, His valued “footstool.”