Valentine Hearts, Presidents, and Love in Action

February invites us to focus on Valentine’s Day, our sweethearts, and the blessings of love in personal relationships.  We focus our February Oikonomia blog not only on hearts and shared love but on one of love’s greatest evidences-- forgiveness. 

True love that is freely and unconditionally given must come from deep within our hearts.  Valentine hearts remind us of this heart-felt love.  Love is also symbolized as the “fruit” of a tree.  Both the fruit and the tree that produces it remind us that human love is a character quality, or virtue, that grows and develops over many days, both sunny and stormy, all of which serve to strengthen the tree and ripen its fruit.

February also invites us to celebrate the birthdays of four American presidents: 
Ronald Reagan - February 6, 1911, Tampico, Illinois
Abraham Lincoln - February 12, 1809, Hodgenville, Kentucky
George Washington (February 22, 1732, Westmoreland Co, Virginia
William Henry Harrison, born February 9, 1773 in Charles City county, Virginia, died in office after only a one-month tenure as president. 

At least two “February presidents,” Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, have left us powerful testimonies of love and forgiveness.  By his example, Abraham Lincoln led a deeply divided America toward a spirit of forgiveness and healing after our bloody Civil War.  Many of us remember President Reagan’s unfailing love for his wife, Nancy; and, his heart-felt forgiveness of his would-be assassin, John Hinkley, Jr. 

Ordinary Men
You may think it strange to combine Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln into the same list of “great American presidents.”  Some view Reagan as a midget in comparison to Lincoln.  After all, wasn’t he just a Hollywood actor who leveraged himself into the White House through his skill with public speaking and humor?  Some believed that, without the help of Nancy and his advisors, Reagan would never have achieved even mediocre leadership.

Abraham Lincoln also had his admirers and detractors.  A writer in the Richmond Daily Dispatch described Lincoln as a man whose personal qualities are those of a low buffoon, and whose most noteworthy conversation is a medley of profane jests and obscene anecdotes… hardly a description that we would associate with the man so many have come to revere as a great American.

The passage of time and the reflections of historians have combined to form more generous legacies for both Lincoln and Reagan.  In fact, many regard both men as being among the greatest American presidents.  What follows is our attempt to honor these men in the context of Valentine’s Day love and forgiveness.

Lincoln’s Love and Forgiveness
The character of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), our 16th U.S. president, was forged from humble beginnings, hard labor, and repeated failures both in his practice of law and in his pursuit of public office.  Lincoln’s wife, Mary Todd, was born into luxury but when she was only six, her mother died in childbirth leaving seven orphans of whom Mary was the fourth.  Her widowed father eventually remarried and Mary’s stepmother bore nine children whom she favored over Mary and the other stepchildren.  Mary’s eventual marriage to Abraham brought two individuals together, both of whom were prone to depression.

Abraham and Mary eventually saw the deaths of all but one of their four sons while Lincoln bore the additional pressures of the presidency during the terrible Civil War.  Kaleena Fraga writes that both suffered from periods of depression and melancholy, but “…although they suffered jointly during the worst years of the Civil War, Lincoln quite plainly loved his wife.  As president, Lincoln told a journalist: ‘My wife was as handsome as when she was a girl. And I, a poor nobody, fell in love with her, and what is more, have never fallen out.’”

The emotional trials of his marriage were compounded by the pressures of his war-time administration.  Upon Lincoln’s election to a second term, the Richmond Daily Dispatch found it appalling that the people of the supposedly civilized North had reelected a vulgar tyrant . . . whose career has been one of unlimited and unmitigated disaster… —a creature who has squandered the lives of millions without remorse and without even the decency of pretending to feel for their misfortunes; who still cries for blood and for money in the pursuit of his atrocious designs.”

Many historians and theologians believe Abraham Lincoln’s personal character qualities and greatness as a leader were formed by the refinement of his fiery trials.  Although he was born into a devout Baptist family, young Lincoln was a jokester who loved to disrespectfully impersonate the pastor of his church.  However, Lincoln’s faith in God and devotion to the Scriptures became an anchor for his often-troubled soul and a guide as he bore the weight of the office of President of the United States.  When a deeply divided America needed reconciliation and healing, who of all men could have led our nation as well as Lincoln did?  According to Michael Medved (See HERE and HERE), beginning in his early twenties and intensifying during the last five years of his life, Lincoln viewed himself as a divine instrument for a higher purpose.

“With Malice Toward None”
From his deep reservoir of compassion, even before the war had ended, Lincoln expressed love and forgiveness most notably in his Second Inaugural address, declaring (emphasis added), With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Lincoln intended that the war should end “With malice toward none”—i.e. with an abolition of all ill will and any desire to inflict distress or pain.  Instead of pointing a finger at the rebellious southern states, Edward Achorn, writing in Time Magazine, notes that Lincoln delivered a mere “five-minute speech of about 700 words, short enough to run in a single column of a newspaper, [and] he argued that all Americans—North and South—shared culpability for the unimaginable horrors the nation had endured. This war of unexpected duration and ferocity, he posited, may have been God’s judgment on all of America for the evil of slavery.”

Achorn wrote that Lincoln was almost alone in seeing the war’s suffering as a verdict on both sides.  Perhaps it might be deemed an act of God’s justice, he argued, even if all the wealth piled up by 250 years of “unrequited toil” by the enslaved should be sunk into the war, and even if “every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.”

In his second inaugural address, Lincoln applied the inclusive word “we” six times, and the word “both” four times to include North and South as responsible parties in the conflict:
“Both parties deprecated war… Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each evokes His aid against the other.  The prayers of both could not be answered… [God] gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came…”  As if to say that both parties, North and South, brought on this war, both have suffered greatly to fulfill the judgment of God upon the nation for the ills of slavery, and now it is time for both to strive together for reconciliation and healing.

Lincoln’s example of forgiveness is worthy of our consideration as we also live in a spiritually and politically divided America.  Achorn makes a helpful application of this principle as follows:  Lincoln, with his rare ability to step outside of the emotions that we all feel when we are attacked, believed that harsh words and acts of revenge rarely pay off; that we are all flawed human beings, all bringing our own motives and complicated understanding of the world to politics.

Reagan’s Rock of Faith
Like Abraham Lincoln, Ronald Reagan was sharpened by the trials of his early life.  Reagan’s father was an alcoholic with a low self-esteem, and it was not uncommon for young Reagan to hear loud arguments between his father and mother.  Because his father regularly moved from one job to another, the Reagan family never stayed long in one Illinois community and they never owned a home.

According to Paul Kengor, Moving took a toll on the young Ronald; it created a void in him—a hole that religion came to fill. In need of a rock of reliability, he looked to where his mom, his heart, and his desolation pointed him: upward.  There, he found what he perceived as a permanent friend—God, who was always in His place, accessible at any moment, who never moved on him.

In one of their homes, according to Kengor, The previous tenant left behind a collection of bird’s eggs and butterflies enclosed in glass. The curious first-grader escaped into the attic for hours at a time, marveling at the eggs’ rich colors and the intricate wings of the butterflies. “The experience,” Reagan remembered, “left me with a reverence for the handiwork of God that never left me.” These wonderments, said Reagan, were like “gateways.” The notion of a Creator was etched into the boy’s consciousness. He later thanked that previous tenant as “an anonymous benefactor to whom I owe much.”

Whereas, Reagan the young boy found a “gateway” of reverence toward the love and holiness of God; Reagan the high schooler found an added channel of expression.  In a fortunate turn of events, a new English teacher invited her students to try out for a theatrical production.  Young Reagan took advantage of the opportunity and his teacher/director taught him the importance of developing empathy for the character he was assigned to portray.

As an adult, Ronald Reagan faced many challenges including a near-death experience during his acting career, an emotionally upsetting divorce, and threats to his life from infiltrating Communist sympathizers while he led the Screen Actors Guild.  But perhaps Reagan’s greatest challenge came abruptly on March 30, 1981, only a few weeks into his first term as President.

Reagan’s Near Fatality and Forgiveness
The Reagan Diaries, published records from Reagan’s diary for March 30, record that he addressed the Building & Construction Trades National Council, AFL-CIO at 2:00 pm at the Hilton Ballroom, Washington, DC.  Reflecting back on this eventful day, Reagan later wrote:
Left the hotel at the usual side entrance and headed for the car-- suddenly there was a burst of gunfire from the left. S.S. Agent pushed me onto the floor of the car and jumped on top. I felt a blow in my upper back that was unbelievably painful. I was sure he'd broken my rib. The car took off. I sat up on the edge of the seat almost paralyzed by pain. Then I began coughing up blood which made both of us think—yes, I had a broken rib & it had punctured a lung. He switched orders from W.H. to Geo. Wash. U. Hosp.

By the time we arrived I was having great trouble getting enough air. We did not know that Tim McCarthy (S.S.) had had been shot in the chest, Jim Brady in the head & a policeman Tom Delahanty in the neck.

I walked into the emergency room and was hoisted onto a cart where I was stripped of my clothes.  It was then we learned I'd been shot & had a bullet in my lung.

Getting shot hurts.  Still my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air.  I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn't ask for God's help while at the same time I felt hatred for the mixed-up young man who had shot me. Isn't that the meaning of the lost sheep?   We are all God's children and therefore equally beloved by him. I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.

I opened my eyes once to find Nancy there.  I pray I'll never face a day when she isn't there.  Of all the ways God has blessed me, giving her to me is the greatest and beyond anything I can ever hope to deserve.

After 12 days of therapy, transfusion, intravenous, etc., back in the White House, Reagan recorded on April 11:  The treatment, the warmth, the skill of those at G.W. (George Washington Hospital) has been magnificent but it is great to be here at home.  Whatever happens now I owe my life to God and will try to serve Him in every way I can.

Reagan biographer Craig Shirley recounts (See HERE.) that two years after his near assassination, Reagan demonstrated his enormous capacity for Christian forgiveness.  Reagan asked Dr. Daniel Ruge, White House physician, to contact the Dr. Roger Peele, head of psychiatry at St. Elizabeth's Hospital where John Hinkley, Jr. was incarcerated.  During his conversation with President Reagan, Dr. Peele was struck by the modesty, “kindness and professionalism of Reagan and his staff, asking several times if he was being inconvenienced in any way.”  Reagan expressed his desire “to pardon Hinckley, not legally but ‘personally’ and ‘in private.’"  But the president also made it “clear he wanted to do what was best for Hinckley.” 

In the end, Reagan and Peele agreed that a meeting would not be advisable because it would likely “empower the young man, whose ego was out of control and whose sense of guilt was nonexistent.”  Nevertheless, Reagan could rest in his conscience that he had already forgiven Hinkley personally.

Reagan:  Leading the World to Forgive
Ronald Reagan’s forgiveness toward his would-be assassin was personal and private.  However, as Divine Providence did for Abraham Lincoln, God granted Reagan a more public and international platform to demonstrate his great heart of forgiveness.  The year 1985 marked the 40^th anniversary of the liberation of Europe from the tyranny of Nazi Germany.  Reagan was invited by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to address the German leadership, the German people, and the survivors of the Holocaust.  However, Reagan received strong pushback from many who still bore resentment toward Nazi Germany for the Holocaust.  Elie Wiesel, Jewish chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, opposed Reagan’s plan to speak at the Holocaust site at Bergen-Belsen as did 53 U.S. Senators!   But Reagan insisted that “he had made a commitment to Kohl, and that 40 years of condemning the Germans for the Holocaust was obloquy enough.” 

Reagan’s Speech at the Holocaust site at Bergen-Belsen, May 5, 1985 (See HERE for text and video.) is regarded as one of his most moving expressions of compassion and forgiveness.  Here is his conclusion in which Reagan calls on the world to forgive and learn from the past, and to rise above such cruelty to hope and pledge, “never again:”

Everywhere here are memories -- pulling us, touching us, making us understand that they can never be erased. Such memories take us where God intended His children to go -- toward learning, toward healing, and, above all, toward redemption. They beckon us through the endless stretches of our heart to the knowing commitment that the life of each individual can change the world and make it better.

We're all witnesses; we share the glistening hope that rests in every human soul. Hope leads us, if we're prepared to trust it, toward what our President Lincoln called "the better angels of our nature." And then, rising above all this cruelty, out of this tragic and nightmarish time, beyond the anguish, the pain and the suffering for all time, we can and must pledge: Never again.

Following the Greatest Forgiver
Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan lived and served in very different periods of history. Neither man was unanimously considered as “great” in his time; but both were men of great faith in God’s sovereign plan of salvation.  Both were confronted with evidence of the depravity of humankind:  Lincoln was faced with the deaths of over 800,000 in the American Civil War; Reagan spoke in memory of the deaths of 6 million men, women, and children in the Holocaust.  Yet both Lincoln and Reagan testified of a hope grounded in the providence of God. 

Reagan’s hope for America was framed in the metaphor of “a shining city upon a hill," a phrase he borrowed from the Pilgrim, John Winthrop, who foresaw a nation as a beacon of hope in Christ to whom the world would be drawn.  Reagan also shared Lincoln’s hope that humankind will choose to rise above the way of evil, violence, and death because of “the better angels of our nature.”  On March 4, 1861, only one month before Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter which launched all-out war, Lincoln used the “better angels” phrase to close his First Inaugural Address.

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

Lincoln and Reagan have left us with an example of strong leadership in the aftermath of  horrific wars.  But both pointed their countrymen and women toward goodness and enduring values that are attainable through faith and hope in God’s providence.  These are grounded in the Gospel message of the Bible: God so loved the world corrupted by the human sin of rebellion that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus Christ), that whoever believes in Him should not perish by eternal separation from God but have eternal life (John 3: 16).  God’s sinless Son became a willing sacrifice to bear and take away our sin on a Roman Cross (Romans 3: 21-26; 1 John 2: 2: 4: 10).

Greatest Expression of Love
What is the greatest expression or act of love of one person toward another?  Jesus answered this question perfectly, first in words and then by two amazing actions:

WORDS – (to His disciples): This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15: 12-13).  
ACTIONS – 1) Forgiveness:  He said, Father, forgive them
                          for they know not what they do (Luke 23: 34).
                     2) Propitiation:  This is real love—not that we loved 
                          God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a
                          sacrifice to take away our sins (1 John 4:10 NLT)
                          – or, a propitiation for our sins (ESV).

Jesus spoke words of forgiveness; and then, willingly laid down His life through the brutality of Roman crucifixion.  He demonstrated God’s great commandment, “Love one another,” by His great love for mankind by words of forgiveness with His last breaths.  Then, Jesus poured out His life in sacrificial death, body and blood given in sacrificial love, as an atoning sacrifice for sin.

But how do we express love?  In 1 John 3: 16, the Apostle John wrote, This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  While many of us are prepared to die for our loved ones, family, and brothers and sisters in Christ, what about our enemies, some of whom are unsaved and bound for eternity without God?  Romans 5: 7-8 answers this question:  For one will hardly die for a righteous person; though perhaps for the good person someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  God loves both the obedient saint who serves Him and the sinner who rejects Him.  God’s forgiveness of sin as a result of Christ’s sacrificial death applies to all, both saint and sinner.

Romans 6 explains that each person who comes to Christ in repentance and accepts Christ’s sacrifice for their sin is “baptized (immersed) into Christ” (verses 3-7) and united with Him in His death.  Then, as Christ was raised to new life with the sin “done away,” so also are we raised to “newness of life” in Christ (v. 4-7).  As new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 17), we are indwelt with His Holy Spirit.  As we abide in Christ (continue in obedience to His Word), His Spirit abides in us and we are able to “bear much fruit.”  John 15: 7-14 ties all of this reasoning together from abiding to fruit-bearing, and the fundamental fruit of the Spirit is—guess what?   Love!  (See Galatians 5: 22-23.)

What is our greatest expression of love toward God?
The answer ought to be obvious:  to accept the gift of salvation which His Son Jesus purchased for us.  If there is no greater expression of love toward us than Jesus laying down His life for us (John 15: 12-13), then our greatest expression of love to God is to accept His “love gift” of salvation and to abide (obey) in His commandments (John 15: 13-14).  “We love because He first loved us (1 John 4: 19).”  But there is a second human expression of our love—to love our neighbor through forgiveness without keeping a “record of wrongs.”

Love Keeps No Record
Shortly before the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was asked by a reporter, “What are you going to do to those rebellious southerners after the war is over?  How are you going to treat them when they come back to the United States?”
Lincoln replied “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

Lincoln’s attitude toward the South, and Reagan’s attitude toward Nazi Germany reflects an understanding of human depravity and need for mercy and forgiveness.  Romans 5: 1 declares, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…  I like to think of justification as a declaration (from God) that He sees me as “justified,” or “just as if I’d never sinned” based on my faith in Christ’s sacrifice for sin.  The record or accounting of our sins is declared as cancelled just as the master had cancelled the debt of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18: 26-27).  Do we cancel the debt owed to us by our offenders by forgiving and then refusing constantly remind them of their offense?

Valentine Love and Beyond
A card? Candy?  A diamond?  Or, maybe sacrificially giving up something that brought joy to a loved one?  When we do acts of unconditional love (Agape love) on Valentine’s Day or on any other day of the year, we are acting, although imperfectly, in the spirit of God’s love toward us.  Few of us will face an occasion where we must literally “give up our life” for our loved one; but God’s love in us ought to cause us daily to “deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow [Christ] (Luke 9: 23).  As we “die to self” and yield to God’s Spirit, the love of Christ infuses our thoughts, words, and actions as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8a:

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails…

Have You Found the "Greatest Love?
The sad news is, according to the Bible, we cannot find and experience the "Greatest Love" and true forgiveness apart from a personal relationship with "the Greatest Lover," Jesus Christ.  The Good News, or "the Gospel," explains how you can receive Christ and live forever in God's love.  This Gospel is summarized in an outline called Steps to Peace with God which explains God’s love, our predicament (sin and separation from God), what Jesus has done to address our predicament, and what you can do by faith to receive God’s righteousness (right standing with a Holy God). 

If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail to silviusj@gmail.com

More Than 'Just Being Good' in 2023

There was a little girl,
       Who had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead.
       When she was good,
       She was very good indeed,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

When I was introduced at an early age to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, I could see my own character in his tale of the little girl.  Like her, when I was “good,” I could be “very good indeed.”  But when I was “bad,” I was as bad as the worst of them.  Sure, I earned my attendance and good behavior “stars” in Sunday School.  But, unbeknown to my teachers and sometimes my parents, I was a little liar, a sneaky thief, and generally, a mean brother to my little sister.  [Click on Photo to Enlarge.]

Now, having celebrated seventy-five New Year’s, I recall some years in which I had made “New Year resolutions.”  But after only a few seconds had marked time in the New Year, I would begin to question whether I or anyone else could maintain a perfect heart and life in the New Year.  I suppose we can all appear “good” for a short time, especially in the presence of others.  But sooner or later, we will express “badness”—we will “think bad” and often “act bad.”  It’s not that we cannot be “good,” it’s just that we cannot be “consistently good.” 

Obviously, our “goodness” and “badness” can color our personal and professional relationships.  The character of our leaders will influence the quality of the programs and policies they write.  [For example, see our recent Oikonomia series on “Consistent Conservation” – click HERE.] Leaders influence our churches, communities, nation, and world.  The revealed Word of God in Scripture provides the only objective and realistic explanation for the innate badness of every human being.  The Apostle Paul contributed toward this explanation in his epistle to the Romans.

“Good” and “Bad” at Heart
And I know that nothing good lives in me,
that is, in my sinful nature.  
I want to do what is right, but I can’t.  
I want to do what is good, but I don’t.  
I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
But if I do what I don’t want to do,
I am not really the one doing wrong;
it is sin living in me that does it. 
I have discovered this principle of life—
that when I want to do what is right,
I inevitably do what is wrong (Romans 7: 18-21).

This was the honest testimony of Paul the Apostle.  He once described himself as a blameless Hebrew (Philippians 3: 4-6), but eventually recognized that he was “the worst of sinners” (1 Timothy 1: 15).  What was it that changed Paul’s understanding of himself and led to his 180-degree turn from “proud Paul” trusting in his own self-righteousness to “humble Paul” who wrote, “nothing good lives in me” (Romans 7: 18)?  Let’s look more closely at the two Paul’s.

Many of us can relate to one or the other, or both of these “Paul’s.”  Like “proud Paul,” we want to do what is right, but [we] can’t, and we don’t want to do what is wrong, but [we] do it anyway.  Like Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth, we recognize this gnawing tension of good and bad within us, and we cry, “Out, damn spot!”  The Apostle Paul cried, Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death (Romans 7: 24)?

“Who Will Set Us Free?”
According to C.S. Lewis, there is a universal moral law that is objective (i.e. from beyond us) not subjective, or from within our own reasoning.  It follows that for this law to exist, God must exist as the necessary “Author” of this law.  God’s Word explains that He created humans with the need to pursue moral justification—i.e.  to answer Paul’s question, “Who will set us free?  But according to God’s objective revelation, there is only one way to obtain moral justification—the just shall live by faith (Romans1: 16-17).  But not everyone acknowledges this claim.  Instead, we tend to adopt one or more of the following:

• PRIDEFUL: “I’m already free; and, I’m basically good.  Sure, I occasionally make a mistake.  Who doesn’t?”
• DESPAIRING: “I’m so sinful, so thoroughly evil.  I must be beyond God’s help.”
• RELIGIOUS: “I am justified because I believe in God, attend church, read the Bible, and obey its commands.”
• ECOCENTRIST: “All of life including humans is good and has equal intrinsic value.  My moral obligation is to ensure that humans do not hinder the flourishing of other species.”
• JUSTICE ADVOCATE: “We are justified by promoting justice and equity for the oppressed and retribution for those whose ancestors we abused.”
• DISMISSIVE: “If there is a God, He’s not a necessary part of my becoming a ‘good person’.”
• NIHILIST: “What’s the use?  I see no basis for believing, valuing, or communicating anything.  I even question my own existence.”  [Read more HERE.]

Which of the above describes how you give account for the reality that something is wrong with the world and wrong with our hearts?  Certainly, our present definitions of reality may differ.  Maybe your self-justification has changed over the years.  Regardless, it is hard to deny Paul’s claim that our lives and culture are “dominated by sin and death.”  Even before birth, the unborn baby can distinguish mommy’s soothing, happy voice from mommy’s troubled voice.  Already, the unborn child begins to experience “good and bad.”  From a very young age, we must begin to deal meaningfully and logically with the reality of goodness and badness.

Those who believe in the objective revelation of God’s Truth through the Scriptures will agree that the Bible gives us many accounts of men and women whose lives were blessed or cursed in accordance with whether or not they followed God’s commands.   Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10: 11 (emphasis added), Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.  Paul elaborates in Romans 15: 4 (emphasis added), For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.  The life of Moses is one example of how we can learn from the experience of a life “written for our instruction.”

Modelling from Moses’s Life
Moses was one of the greatest prophets of God.  He wrote the first five books of the Bible (the Pentateuch) under the inspiration of God’s Spirit.  Likely, Moses’s writings were enhanced by the many hours he spent in intimate fellowship and “face to face” conversation with Almighty God (Exodus 33: 7-11; Numbers 12: 8).  It is far beyond the scope of this article and the ability of this writer to encompass the life of Moses.  Instead, we offer a series of snapshots of his life.  We hope each snapshot will challenge you to meditate on God’s truth, delve deeper into the Scriptures, and apply it as part of your effort to walk more consistently with God in the coming year.  Maybe you will elect to use each one as part of your daily devotions for seven days:

Moses:  Son of Godly Parents – Exodus 1: 16, 22; 2: 1-10; Acts 7: 17-20; Hebrews 11: 23
Although the Egyptian Pharaoh had decreed that all Hebrew babies should be killed, Moses’s parents courageously defied the decree.  They placed baby Moses in a tiny ark which was discovered floating in the bullrushes by Pharaoh’s daughter.  Moses’s sister Miriam aided in a plan for Moses’s mother to nurture the child.  As a result, the devout parents whom God providentially used to preserve Moses’s life may also have been instrumental in teaching him in later years about the One true God and His covenant with His chosen people through whom Messiah would come.
Application:  Reflect on the important role of parents and grandparents in providing consistent moral and biblical teaching.  Thank God for those He used to nurture your faith.  Who have you been discipling in the truth of God’s Word?
Read More:  Proverbs 22: 6; “A Nation of Biblical Illiterates” WORLD Magazine, Jan. 6, 2023

Moses:  From Prince to Sufferer– Exodus 2: 10-11; Acts 7: 22-23; Hebrews 11: 24-26
Hebrews 11 records that Moses refused his position of royalty and his enjoyment of the “fleeting pleasures of sin,” choosing instead to “share the oppression of God’s people.”  His sharing in Hebrew oppression meant that Moses was sharing in the same suffering which future generations of God’s people would endure, leading to the suffering of Christ Himself and His disciples down to our present day.
Application:  What decisions and commitments have you made that are clearly “by faith” rather than for temporal, personal, or material gain?  Can you justify these according to Hebrews 11: 1, 6; and Matthew 6: 19-34?

Moses:  Murderer and Fugitive– Exodus 2: 11-15; Acts 7: 23-29; Hebrews 11: 27
Moses learned about his Hebrew heritage and then committed himself to some measure of faith in the Hebrew God, Jehovah.  One day, his knowledge and faith combined to lead Moses to act in defense of his enslaved Hebrew brethren.  This altercation led Moses to kill an Egyptian slave master.  Instead of becoming the agent of God’s liberation of his Hebrew brethren from bondage, Moses became a murderer and fled for his life into the wilderness.
Application:  Have you made decisions in which caused you to act on your own strength and ability for selfish reasons instead of waiting on God’s timing and for His glory?  What did you learn from this experience?  Notice that God’s Word (Hebrews 11: 27) doesn’t recount Moses’s crime.  Why might this be?  [See Psalm 103: 8-14; Hebrews 8: 12; 1 John 1: 9.]

Moses:  Shepherd and Deliverer – Exodus 3-5; Acts 7: 30-35
After forty years of shepherding sheep, Moses was visited by God who revealed Himself through a burning bush, saying I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. “BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ‘TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND (Acts 7: 32-33).  Moses, the former prince of Egypt, now kneels down in humble reverence toward God Jehovah, the “I AM,”  He receives God’s commission and powerful signs to challenge Pharaoh to release of the Hebrew nation from slavery.  Instead of success, once again, Moses appears to fail and his brethren turn against him.
Application:  Can you relate to Moses’s apparent defeat from your experience?  Which has helped you more in your spiritual growth, your triumphs or your trials?  See James 1: 2-4; Romans 5: 3-5.

Moses:  GOD Overpowers Egyptian Gods– Exodus 6-14; Acts 7: 36; Hebrews 11: 28-29
Moses was God’s prophet in a standoff that was not ultimately between Moses and Pharaoh, but between Almighty God and the spiritual forces of Satan.  The Egyptians were the real slaves—slaves of satanic polytheism, the worship of many gods.  Jehovah God demonstrated His power over creation and the Egyptian gods of creation by unleashing ten plagues, each a direct attack on one particular Egyptian god beginning with the god of the Nile River and ending with the death of every first-born child in a home without its side- and upper-doorposts painted with the blood of a sacrificial lamb. This Passover lamb was a foreshadowing of the coming “true Passover Lamb,” Jesus Christ (Matthew 26: 2).
Application:  List some of the many “gods” of our culture.  How is God enabling you be a testimony that it is a more powerful and blessed testimony for God than for false gods?  How do you apply the blood of the Passover Lamb and of His Cross as you face the powers of death and darkness (2 Corinthians 10: 3-5)?
Read More about “Ten Egyptian Plagues for Ten Egyptian Gods and Goddesses,” CLICK HERE.

Moses:  Man of Great Faith and a Worshiper – Exodus 14-15
After the final, devastating plague of the firstborn in Egypt, Pharaoh allowed the children of Israel to migrate toward the Promised Land, and estimated 2.5 million men, women, and children.  However, soon the vengeful Egyptians decided to pursue the Israelites, eventually cornering them at the edge of the sea.  It appeared that Moses was once again on the edge of failure.  Instead, with great faith in God, Moses cried out, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD… (Exodus 14: 13-14).”  After God opened the sea, Moses led the multitude of Israelites along a path through the sea on dry ground.  Then, as an expression of reverence to God, Moses led the multitude in singing praises unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea (Exodus 15: 1).
Application:  Recall a time in which you were “cornered” with seemingly no escape.  How did you respond?  How was God involved in the outcome?  How did your response afterwards compare to that of Moses?

Moses:  Friend of God and Intercessor – Exodus 32, 33
Within three days of their victorious deliverance from the Egyptians through the parting of the sea, the children of Israel were “acting like children” complaining of the bitter water at Marah (Exodus 15: 22-25).  Moses cried out to the LORD and God “showed him a tree” which when cut and thrown into the water, made the water sweet.  After repeated grumblings for water and food which God graciously supplied, the Israelites came to Mt. Sinai where God carved the Ten Commandments in stone and gave them to Moses.  However, while Moses was with God on the mountain, the Israelites formed a golden calf and were worshiping it (Exodus 32).  Moses again met in “face to face” communion with God, interceding on behalf of the sinful people of God.  He was performing what would soon be the role of God’s priests, and eventually the role of Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, through the blood of His Cross (Hebrews 4: 14-16).
Application:  Read Exodus 33: 7-11.  In a spirit of repentance and reverence to God, offered through God’s High Priest, Jesus Christ, enter into prayer communion with God, thanking Him for saving you, interceding for you.  Ask God to help you walk with Him in 2023 in reliance upon Him performing His roles as Advocate and Comforter (John 14: 15-20; 1 John 2: 1-2).

Wanting to Be Good in 2023?
While I was small enough for my father to hold me close in his arms,  my mother recalls that he would whisper into my ear, “Johnny is a good boy, Johnny is a good boy.” My father wanted me to be “Good.”  With one exception, I do not recall him ever laying a hand on me.  Mom took responsibility for the “hands-on” discipline.  It was my respect for my father and for his godly character that instilled in me a reverent fear of disappointing him.  I wanted to be “good” in his eyes, and eventually, in God’s eyes, too. 

Something within the moral constitution of each of us makes us want to be good when we encounter someone we highly respect.  From our brief sketches of the life of Moses, we see a man who was “good” but not “consistently good.”  He was a prince, but he loved the privileges and pleasures of Egypt.  Moses had compassion for his people in slavery but he committed murder in trying to deliver them.  When he became God’s leader of the multitude of his fellow Israelites, Moses alternated between being godly and being impatient. 

For all of his imperfections, one thing is clear from the biblical account of Moses’s life—a Holy God chose to be merciful toward him, sparing his life as a baby, disciplining him to become a great leader through repeated failures, and inviting him into His very presence for extended periods of time.  Exodus 33: 7-11 records how Moses would commune with God in the “tent of meeting” where the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.  In Numbers 12: 8, God defends the character of Moses, saying, …with him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. 

In spite of his failures and inconsistencies, God did not give up on Moses.  Apparently, those repeated and extended times of intimate communion with God had transformed Moses into the man of whom it was written, Moses was very humble, more humble than any man of the face of the Earth (Numbers 12: 3).  Moses was not consistently good, but he was humble.

Not “Good” But Humble in 2023
Few of us would say we want to be “bad” in 2023.  Although we are fallen and sinful human beings (Romans 3: 10, 23), most of us still want to be “good.”  But, like the Apostle Paul, we cannot be “consistently good.”  Thankfully, we can learn from Moses that we will all fail God often, but it is not our “goodness” that God wants.  It is our humility—a disposition of heart that enables us to realize that our “badness” is really sinful rebellion against God which separates us from Him and grieves Him.  We grieve over our sin when we humbly realize how it grieves God’s Spirit.  Humility is also the prerequisite for the unsaved sinner to become a child of God by profession of faith in the death and resurrection of God the Son, Jesus Christ (John 1: 12; Ephesians 2: 8-9). 

How do we maintain a disposition of humility?  By spending time with God as Moses did.  We do that by personally devoting time with God each day, speaking to Him in prayer in the Spirit and allowing His Spirit to speak to us through His Word.  Although it is unlikely that we will “see God” we can sense God’s presence through His Spirit.  The Prophet Isaiah actually …saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple [and Seraphim calling out to one another, saying] “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”  Isaiah responded in humble repentance, declaring
 Woe is me, for I am ruined!
  Because I am a man of unclean lips,
  And I live among a people of unclean lips;
  For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

In her book, Holier than Thou (B & H Publishing, 2021), Jackie Hill Perry writes, “Isn’t it interesting how simply being in proximity to God creates a moral self-awareness in Isaiah and others.”  She refers to the Apostle Peter’s humble contrition in the presence of Jesus Christ after the Christ’s miracle that filled their fish nets (Luke 5: 8).  [The text box below gives more inspiration from Jackie Hill Perry.  Click on box to enlarge.]

How Will You Live in 2023?
Thank you for reading.  We hope your reading and study of the Scriptures we have cited will motivate you to pursue God in humility and reverence as Moses and Isaiah did.  Ultimately, it is Jesus Christ who sets the perfect example of humility and obedience to His Father, going all the way to the Cross to die for us.  When we truly “survey His wondrous Cross on which the Prince of Glory died…” may we surrender our efforts to be “good” and “pour contempt on all [our] pride.”  With a humble, teachable spirit of a disciple of Christ, may you have a blessed 2023.

Acknowledgement:  We want to thank our granddaughter, Kiara Maetta Salyers, for the Christmas gift of Jackie Hill Perry’s book, Holier Than Now, which we have referenced in this blog.  And we thank God, Kiara’s family, and all who have been teaching and inspiring her along the way in her walk with God.

Added Value:  We invite you to share a favorite Bible character or Scripture passage that has been helpful in your walk with God.  Just use “Comments” below or write privately by e-mail:  silviusj@gmail.com 

Additional Reading: For more practical help in pursuing a personal relationship with God, click HERE for a short tract entitled “Have You Made the Wonderful Discovery of the Spirit-Filled Life?” Also, check out our January, 2022 Oikonomia, “Can a Person Live “Pure as the Driven Snow?” (Click HERE.)