Beaten but Restorable (Psalm 51)

If you have read any of my posts before, you will have noticed that I haven't blogged in years, literally.  Lack of desire?  Not really.  Lack of time?  Getting there.  Sure, I could blame it to my lack of time.  I work 60-70 hours a week and I honestly love every minute of it.  Most of my time is devoted professionally to data gathering and report generation of healthcare information.  You will find me digging in the data trenches and then coming out later to mingle and consult with executive leadership on designs and models to help patients and providers have more successful health experiences and outcomes.  Another portion of my week is devoted to leadership at our local church.  I serve as a worship leader - and also at present, a deacon - and enjoy finding new ways to bring excellence to our corporate worship.  The fellowship of the congregation and musicians is most attractive and encouraging as well.  Finally, I am a hobby baker.  I love to put an apron on, create flavorful cakes, and wrap them up in exquisite ways to express their great taste.

I enjoy all of these things and more: being a husband, father, chef, 'school bus driver' - carpooling driver really...

At the same time, I have a supportive and ambitious wife who works as critical care nurse and is pursuing her graduate degree to become a nurse practitioner.  She is in her last year of the program - the most stressful year - and many of her days consist of homework, work, clinicals, homework, clinicals, work...and on it goes.  Somewhere, she finds a way to squeeze in sleep.  Rarely do we know when or how good her rest will be.

So, I admit, time is not a commodity we have.  I'm also sure you can say the same thing for yourselves.  But, that is not an excuse for being lazy or complacent about our God.  I admit that I have tried too much to trust in my wife to fill me up, but she should not be the ultimate source of my joy...only my God can do that.  He is the only one who can provide the guidance, the fuel to move, the passion to lead with integrity.  He is the I AM.  

So, I attempt to write again, to keep myself accountable to reading His word and to seek after Him as my source, strength, the Wonderful Counselor.  May these writings, how frequent or infrequent they come, encourage and stir you to seek Him as well.

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Recently, I was asked to lead bible study/prayer time at our local church.  As always, I was humbled. But today, defeated.  I am not worthy.

Then Psalm 51 comes to mind.  What is so important about Psalm 51?  I am drawn to king David in the Old Testament for many reasons, but let me name two: (1) he was a worship leader - and through the guidance of the Holy Spirit - he penned much of the songs of praise, lament, adoration, trust...to our God, and (2) he was a man who could not discard his sin nor his desire to sin.  Psalm 51 is David's lament and plead for forgiveness for sinning against God with such atrocity: adultery and murder.  Yes, we are talking about the same David who is called a 'man after God's own heart'.  If this happened today, wouldn't we throw him out?  Wouldn't we hurl insults and shame his way?  Wouldn't we discard the hymns and anthems he has previously penned and raised before the Lord?

In our hearts...we would feel justified to respond that way...and I would be the first to cast the stone at him.  My heart would be torn and shattered at the thought.  "You call yourself a man after God?!  God is not in you!!"

...

And, yet, God desires David.  Surely God is Just.  Miraculously, though, He longs to forgive and provide restoration.  If God is truly the God of the impossible, I certainly believe God's character is also irrevocably marvelous and impossible even more to understand.

David's heart grieves with bitter tears in Psalm 51...
..."Have mercy on me, O God"
..."my sin is always before me"
..."cleanse me with hyssop", which is a reference to the hyssop first used to cover the door posts with lambs' blood at Passover
..."create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me"
..."do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me"

And, then, something beautiful happens.  God reveals his forgiveness in a way that is indescribable:
..."You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise."

Why?  Why does God not despise David?  Is it for the same reason that when a friend of mine aches, grieves, sobs bitterly, that I am drawn to comfort them?  Is this act of selfless care not also a part of His character, as we are also made in His likeness?  God could have certainly discarded David from the ultimate plan.  It wouldn't make Him unjust or unloving.  He is certainly sovereign.  Yet, He still forgives, and forgives, and forgives...infinitely. Nearly 70 times, Scripture refers to the number '70' and so when a Jew, Peter, asked Jesus "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?  Up to seven times?"  Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times." (Matthew 18:21,22)

Certainly, if God wants us to forgive our brother or sister that many times - how exhausting would that be?! - how much more is He ready to forgive us...over and over again?

At our bible study, I shared a story that Mark Lowry (from the Gaither Band) used from a time on his tour bus:

Bus Driver: "Boy, I'd love to come back to God, but I was raised in church, but I can't do it.  I've just gone too far."

Mark: "Well, have you ever got a woman pregnant then murdered her husband to cover it up?"

[insert awkward pause and stare]

Bus Driver: "Not yet."

Mark: "Well, king David did... and God still said he's a man after my own heart."

I will trust and rest in the Lord and remember that "the Lord is CLOSE to the brokenhearted and SAVES those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18)

~Luke

Transcript of President George Washington's Farewell Address (1796)

Friends and Fellow Citizens:

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.

I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.

The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the latter great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefiting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and, while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and, what is perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same governments, which their own rival ships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our Western country have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured ? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliance, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. 

Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your government, and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion; and remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.There is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositaries, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it ? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue ? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils? Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations. But, if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for your welfare, by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the twenty-second of April, I793, is the index of my plan. Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your representatives in both houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without anything more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

United States19th September, 1796Geo. Washington

Transcription courtesy of the Avalon Project at Yale Law School.

Balance the Checkbook! Op-Ed for this election season.

How many times have you balanced your checkbook?  Do you even know where it is?  Or are you one of those people who uses the charge card and pays whatever you can on them just to keep the sharks away?

How many times has the federal government balanced "our" public checkbook?  Yes, I said "OUR".  If we hired people to balance the ledger of the greatest business in the world, our business, the U.S. economy, and not only when they failed to balance the books they also overspent our monies and borrowed the difference...what would you do?

Well, the real answer is what we have already done: apathy.  Just as we have neglected our own personal finances, believed that borrowing monies gets us ahead, we have taken a seat as far back as possible on our country's finances.  We have continued to elect the same people: spineless, out for career ambitions, and even those trying their best not to be bought out by lobbyists are still sucked in by the tentacles of political favors.

So what is our job?  Our job is to be a true shareholder of our country.  To be a Chairman and Chairwoman of the Board and to elect those who keep to the mission and values of our "company", to stay in the black, and remove the favoritism that encroaches and kills Liberty.  Our job is to also remove those who believe in favors, who believe in buying off constituencies, and who believe that we are to be a true democracy - a country that eventually permits the majority to rule over the minority - rather than to lift up and rebuild the framework of the Democratic Republic.

That's what's so ironic about those last two words, Democratic Republic.  These two bickering and sold out parties hold the framework of our great country: Democracy is a system of government where the population elects eligible members of the community to represent them, and Republic is a state in which the supreme power is held by the people.  If it were only a democracy, once 51% of people gather together, they rule over whatever the sizes of the minority; however, when you add the Republic (via the electorate), all peoples retain the supreme power and lessen the strength of the majority via a true democracy.  Most people don't even know this - and sadly neither did I until a week ago - but we stripped away a vital thread to our republic when Congress passed the 17th Amendment May 13, 1912.  This allowed the people to directly elect people to the Senate.  I know that sounds odd - that I would oppose such an Amendment - but what happened with this passing is it stripped away the people's power through the constituency.  You see, prior to this, the State legislature was responsible for placing people to the Senate.  With this setup, the senators' election was representative of the constituency rather than the popular vote suppressing the minority through a direct vote.  This is why we have the Electorate when electing the President of United States, so that the majority could not group together and rule over the minority.

Why do I write all this and where am I going?  With Greece and the European Union crashing, and soon the United States will need to answer to their failed "balancing of the checkbook", who will be to blame?  I try to stay informed as much as possible, read the news from as many viewpoints as possible, listen to the radio from the far left to the far right.  When I listen and read, it seems the truth is hard to find.  Some seem to speak in half truths and others you can't tell if they're misinformed, have agendas, or really have a true perspective on the topic.

That is why, being very tired of the political nonsense and name-calling, I decided to find for myself what the true ledger of federal checkbook has been....and I went back 112 years.  If you have gotten this far, you may need a refresher in American government.  Most people do not know where spending comes from in the federal government.  Do you know?  Is it is Executive Branch/the President?  No.  Is it in Congress?  Yes, but from where?  It comes from a very specific place in the House of Representatives:  The Ways and Means Committee. So, with that in mind, you may or may not be shocked by what will you see.  Is there a party responsible for spending?  Will it be as apparent as a huge bug splat on your windshield?

Before you do that - and although there is truth to the coming perception - I do not share this to blame one party.  On the contrary, I blame us for not challenging it, for believing that favors will get us where we want to go and that spending ourselves to prosperity was a possibility.  We have lied to ourselves and to our children.  This presentation will show that regardless of what the tax policy is or what corporate tax rates are, the federal revenue have nearly increased every...single...year.  Our problem isn't funding our economy; our problem is spending money we don't have.

The Federal Checkbook (1900-2012)

This is a display I developed from nonpartisan figures on Federal Revenue and Spending.
(sources: usgovernmentrevenue.com, taxpolicycenter.org)

The top bar graph displays total year-to-year revenue (greener = revenue growth to prior year, redder = revenue loss to prior year). The bottom bar graph displays year-to-year spending (greener = spending under revenue, redder = spending over revenue - debt spending). This is our Country's ledger. Share with the constituencies.

The train is running full-steam ahead for the cliff's edge and people are apathetic.  It is time for us to change that.  It is time for us to care.  It is time to stop the reckless spending and pay off our debtors.  It will be painful to do initially, but we can do it because we are caring people that will care for the poor and we need to take care of them at the community level, where love and accountability are found, things that cannot be delivered at the federal level.

So, please, pass this on and carry the torch to your neighbor.  Teach them how they can carry this torch, this burden, to release others from their apathy and restore Lady Liberty to greatness.

~Luke

It is Finished (0)

Some of you have asked, initially that is, “What’s up with the countdown?”  Well, if you still don’t know, these devotionals and countdown have been dedicated to the coming arrival of my family.  Each year my family of four would travel out west to Washington to visit the Wilson clan.  And oh is it a clan.  We love the people, we love the travelling, we just look forward to Summer.  This year, however, is different.  Amazingly, we were able to work the opposite.  Between school, work, and summer schedules, the entire side of my family is coming out to Michigan for 9 days.  And this isn’t just a couple siblings and parents.  This is two parents, five siblings, two wives, and two nieces.  Yes, you counted eleven people correctly.

Do you have any countdowns?  Are you excited for an upcoming trip, wedding, or just time away?  Do you think Jesus had a countdown?  Over the past few weeks, these devotions have dealt with many of Jesus' teachings.  He helped us understand how to deal with life, how to treat our brothers and sisters, how to grow fruit from His vine, and most importantly how to love.  But is that really it?  Did he teach each us, yet with power and authority, only to help us learn and be enlightened? 

Counting down to see my family has been a joy, but why has it been?  Do I just get excited about the countdown, just about the thought of them coming?  Does anyone only get excited about the thought of a vacation?   No.  We are more excited about what comes after; it's the beginning of something new. Jesus’ life was dramatic and empowering, but that wasn’t his mission.  I believe Jesus had a countdown.  Yet, to us, his countdown wouldn’t be one I think any one of us would ever be excited about.  Jesus had a countdown to his death.  He knew what was coming and, although for a moment he wished it would pass by him, he knew his Father’s will and followed willingly.

I can see someone saying, “Why would he be excited about that?!  How could he be excited about this countdown?” I know how you feel; I thought the same thing when this passage came to me.  And then I felt Him telling me It’s never been about the countdown.  It’s what happens after the countdown.  In the last moment of his life, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.  And with the biggest blow, Jesus conquered sin for an eternity.  The enemy’s plan was defeated and the love of Christ was shown in his ultimate sacrifice.  He gave us a new life, a life full of hope and a future with him.  The curtain has been torn in two and we now can have communion with the Father.  He has won.  He is victorious.  He is the champion.

It’s not just about the story but the life after that he has given us to live free from the bondage of sin. 

Thank you, Jesus, for doing this for me.

²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,”²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

 

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:25-30

0 days!

The Famous One (1)

When you've been invited to go on a grand trip, don’t you get excited?  I remember when Melissa and I were invited to travel to Rome (2001) and live with good friends for nine days there; boy we couldn't stop talking about the trip to come.  I remember the excitement when I’d be invited to stay in large homes or mansions.  Albeit not often, the invitation made it even more thrilling.  Large homes, great acreage, swimming pools, gaming rooms, and just relaxing how ever you wanted to.  You’d think Boy, this is the life.

And then, when you go home, how quickly do you feel discontent with the size of your home?  You desire having a home like the one you stayed in and the space to do anything and everything you have ever dreamed of.  When this happens, ask yourself, “Do I only get this excited about mansions here on earth?”

The disciples were just told by Jesus that his time on earth would come to an end soon.  He would be betrayed and he would be going away, away to place that they could not follow.  After being with Jesus as long as they had, this was the only life they wanted.   Jesus now tells them that he physically cannot be with them anymore.  To them, Jesus was their home, their grand home.  But in John 14, Jesus comforts them.  “You believe in God; believe also in me.  My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (v. 1,2)  Thomas’ response is slightly humorous when he asks, “so how can we know the way” as if they could walk there. (v. 3)

Jesus’ response is Truth: “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (v. 6,7)

Do you hear and see what I am seeing?  Does this get you excited for the biggest trip of your lives?  If we believe in God and if we know Jesus, then we have seen the Father.  Furthermore, prepare, get packed, and tell others about your upcoming trip.  He has prepared a place for you in His mansion, your own room, in a new grand home.  Moreover, the master of the home is not another popular movie star or business entrepreneur.  He is the creator of the universe, the creator of you and of me.  He is The Famous One. 

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

 ⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

 ⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

John 14:1-7

1 day!

Blinded for a Reason (2)

Remember when you played pin the tail on the donkey?  Someone would cover your eyes with a handkerchief, spin you around, give you the tail, and set you loose.  As you timidly walked forward, praying you were actually walking forward or toward the donkey on the wall, you hoped the tail at least made it somewhere in donkey country than anything else.  I was bad at this game.  I never liked playing it.

Isn’t that the same feeling as when you don’t know where you’re going in life and you really hope you’re going in the right direction?  How many times did you fail before you hit the right track?  I’m sure this feeling comes as a result of many failed experiences, blinded to what’s to come or what’s around the corner.  Saul (now Paul) was once the persecutor of the early church.  He longed to find those following Jesus’ teaching and have them thrown into prison.  He was of the religious elite.  You remember, the same elite Jesus once hurled woes to because of the unreasonable burdens they would put on the weak?

And, yet, in His mercy, Saul was chosen to be a prominent leader of the new movement.  On the road to Damascus, Saul is suddenly blinded by a light, a light that the others in his party couldn’t see but could still hear the voice that called out, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  He immediately responded, “Who are you, Lord?” and Jesus replied that it was him along with instructions to go into the city.

That’s it.  Well not really.  The light that Saul saw also blinded him.  For three days, he was escorted but he followed Jesus’ orders, going into the city, for it was there that he would await further instruction.

Are you blinded?  Do you feel like you’re walking to nowhere?  Chances are you could be walking to nowhere, with no instruction.  Hopefully, though, you are walking purposefully, walking where He has told you to walk even though you don’t know what’s up ahead.  Saul surely didn’t know what was to come, that his name would change, he would lead thousands (millions) to Christ, and also he would suffer for the cause of Christ.  However attractive that may or may not sound, his reward on earth was exchanged for heavenly treasures.  He listened, followed, and trusted in God.  Sometimes, it requires not knowing how you’ll get there, being blinded temporarily, in order to bring about a dependence of Him, trust, to lead you where He is taking you.

 ¹ Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. ³ As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him,“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

 ⁵ “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

   “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. ⁶ “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

 ⁷ The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

Acts 9:1-9

2 days!

Tablet of your Heart (3)

“Honey,” I tell my oldest, “please help me set the table.”  Other times, “please make your bed immediately when you get up.”  “Do not watch any Netflix until you’re dressed and your bed is made.”  Now that’s a new one.  When I was their age, it was “don’t play too loud in your room,” for fear I’d wake up my parents if they wanted to sleep in.  I’d use my Hot Wheels cars and imagine car races or use my K.I.T.T. car with Michael Knight action figure – with legs like Barbie – imagining huge stunts while capturing bad guys.

As a child, I was constantly battling the fun over the chores.  And why were the chores that important?  I mean, they were always there to be done.  There was a never-ending ceaselessness about it.  Make your bed, clean your room, feed the dog, pick up after the dog, put your toys away, and do it every single day.  My girls do an excellent job taking care of the things around the house; they’re girls and they have a fantastic mother.  But they still forget some of the basic things.  It isn’t often, but it happens.  What can I say?  They’re kids.  But isn’t easy to get frustrated when you tell them something over and over and over again just hoping one of these days they’ll do it on their own?

Reading Proverbs 3, I am refreshed in being reminded what is most important.  Training a child to do his or her chores is indeed important.  It teaches life skills, respect, honor, taking care of what has been given to you; however, what is worth more than that is teaching your child to adore God.  This isn’t something that they acquire by your instruction.  This isn’t a Sunday School lesson that they pick up; they don’t just love God and love His commands because you tell them to.  This isn’t something they learn from lectures from you.  They learn this by practice, by imitation, by it being modeled.

I am beyond blessed that my girls live peacefully (most of the time), love others, and love God.  They understand His word and love reading their Bible.  They look forward to Sunday, to carrying their Bible to church, and to learning about Him.  They love telling stories they heard at church and what it means to them.  This is something I know has been modeled to my girls, having learned from us, their grandparents, and others we know have helped to shape their hearts towards loving and adoring the Father.

Just a week or so ago, I remember seeing my oldest crying to my wife.  She was telling her mother of something that happened at school.  I could tell they needed their moment and later, after my oldest went back out to play, I asked my wife what that was all about.  She told me that while our daughter was at recess, a couple of the kids said that they thought it would be fun not to line up when the bell rang; this was expected of the kids when recess was over, signaled by the bell.  My daughter overheard them and rather than joining them, she reminded them that the moral focus of the week was “integrity” and that we should make the right choice.  The kids ended up laughing at her and this caused her pain which she carried with her when she came home.

Later on that night, I told her I heard about it.  I paused.  I then told her that I was very proud of her.  I tried my best to show her the immense pride I had for her and shared with her how pleased I was that she cared more about doing the right thing and pleasing God over doing what others wanted.

May we clothe ourselves in Him and bind ourselves with His teachings.  More importantly, may we do this so that our children will know how to adore Him too.

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, 
   but keep my commands in your heart, 
² for they will prolong your life many years 
   and bring you peace and prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; 
   bind them around your neck, 
   write them on the tablet of your heart. 
⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name 
   in the sight of God and man.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart 
   and lean not on your own understanding; 
⁶ in all your ways submit to him, 
   and he will make your paths straight.^[a]

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; 
   fear the LORD and shun evil. 
⁸ This will bring health to your body 
   and nourishment to your bones.

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth, 
   with the firstfruits of all your crops; 
¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, 
   and your vats will brim over with new wine.

¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, 
   and do not resent his rebuke, 
¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves, 
   as a father the son he delights in.^[b

Proverbs 3:1-12

3 days!