William Wilberforce is one of the few that everyone views as a Statesman for his vision and the sacrifices he made to achieve it. He wrote from his vantage point:

The majority of Christians overlook, deny or, at the very least, minimize the problems of what it means to be a fallen human being.

I submit to you that the problem is more universal than Wilberforce wrote. His conclusion applies not only to insincere Christians. It is an issue that everyone of us must recognize, regardless of our religious heritage, and we must deal with if we desire to be the kind of leader our Creator intended. It is this issue that presents a challenge to governance because it impacts both governed and governors. Let us specifically consider how this issue applies to those who govern. What is this fallen nature and how does it impact the governing process? It is expressed quite bluntly, in God’s Word:

There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one (Romans 3:10-12).

Our Creator, out of His love, has given us the freedom to choose to obey His clear instructions, or not, in our decisions. All too often, we choose to follow our own desires in defiance of His way. Let us consider how this impacts the government decision-maker who would be a Statesman. Recalling what it means to be a Statesman, one of the many voices has reminded us:

A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift (James Freeman Clarke).

In studying these words, as well as God’s words, we understand what is essential in our effort to operate as a Statesman. There are two natures that battle within our life continuously:

1. a God-sensitive, selfless nature that seeks to obey our Creator to do the good that He desires, and which cares about the needs of the people;
2. a selfish nature willing to collect some personal benefits as a “reasonable” perk of office.

In the definition provided by Clarke, we see clearly what is self-promoting and what is people-promoting in the difference between a Statesman and a politician.

Our Creator described what Wilberforce terms our fallen or sinful nature this way:

The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

The battle that this causes within us is described by one servant of God:

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate…. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me (Romans 7:15-21).

This servant of God went even further in describing the battle within:

But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body (Romans 7:23).

The net effect is that my sinful, or selfish, nature overrides any good that my better nature would wish to do:

For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want (Galatians 5:17).

As a result, I am rendered unable to do the good I desire to do. The Statesman must recognize the solution our Creator has provided for us to overcome our sinful nature:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).

We must apply Jesus’ sacrificial work on the Cross on our behalf to the issue of the deeds of our sinful nature. This, we must actively and aggressively do. We must actively take advantage of the solution He has provided for us:

If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:13).

The key is the phrase “by the Spirit”. We must take advantage of the power of the Spirit of God within us to put to death the deeds of our sinful nature that would misuse the authority of office and deprive it from being used solely for the benefit of the people. It is only when we allow our Creator to put to death the desires of our human nature that literally God and Jesus and His Holy Spirit can operate through us.  This we must do with each and every decision we make – literally, multiple times per day. It is only then that we can operate as our Creator’s instrument, accomplishing what He desires. This is summarized in our Creator’s teaching through another servant:

His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires (2 Peter 1:3-4).

It is only as the decision-maker relies on our Creator’s help that one can stop interfering with our Creator’s plan and operate as a Statesman. Of course, this solution can only work if the Spirit of the Living God is within us. This relies on making sure the channel between God and us has been opened by our taking advantage of Jesus’ death for our sinful nature and His resurrection. Jesus made this clear when He said:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

The reality is that Jesus’ crucifixion accomplished payment for our disobedience to God that blocked that access channel to God. And Jesus’ resurrection from death confirmed that He accomplished what He promised through His crucifixion. We must make sure we have taken this step in appropriating our Creator’s forgiveness as we seek His help and His power in overcoming our sinful nature in order to be His instrument in the lives we are called to serve. It is essential that we make sure the Spirit of God is within us in order to invoke His Spirit in putting to death our selfish interests.

CONSIDERATION FOR THE STATESMAN:

Have I taken the step to ensure that the Spirit of the Living God is within me in my desire to overcome my selfish nature and to govern as a Statesman?

The post The Statesman Overcoming Our Selfish Nature appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

The seventeenth century French philosopher Blaise Pascal described a vacuum in the heart of each human. I am convinced this vacuum has profound implications for the Statesman. Specifically, I would like to discuss with you the implications in the life of the Statesman of leaving this vacuum unfilled. Pascal’s statement is:

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each human which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.

This vacuum has implications for the Statesman personally and for the people the Statesman is called to serve. It speaks of an empty place in the life of every individual. How does this apply to the Statesman? This has great significance for the Statesman who has responsibility not only for his own life but also for the lives impacted by his decisions. Jesus made a profound statement to His close followers that provides some insight as He was, I believe, addressing an aspect of this vacuum:

Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it (Luke 10:23-24).

The reference point Jesus gave was the mysteries that the prophets in the Old Testament of the Bible spoke of – mysteries so profound that the prophets themselves did not understand that of which they spoke. The mysteries of which the prophets spoke was a work of God. Furthermore, the desire of these prophets to understand these mysteries was a work of God. God, through Jesus, was here explaining that kings also wanted to understand the mysteries of God with the same hunger as the prophets. Clearly, this interest on the part of kings, and those who serve in Government, is a special work of God.It is a special work of God in the lives of those who serve in Government because of the significance of their decisions in the lives of people they serve as a part of achieving our Creator’s plan for well-being:

That we [humans] may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity (1 Timothy 2:2).

I submit to you that the two vacuums of which Pascal and Jesus spoke are closely related and have a two-fold purpose in the life of the governing leader.

First, this vacuum represents an intense effort to draw the leader to God for his or her personal sake. God loves the Statesman as a part of His deep love for all of His creation. And He cares about the quality of life and the eternal destiny for governing leaders as human beings. Jesus, as God, expressed this when He explained.

I came that they have life and have it to the fullest (John 10:10).

Jesus was clarifying that every human being, Statesman included, cannot have life to the fullest without embracing Jesus.

Second, filling the spiritual vacuum fills the vacuum of the need for understanding by the Statesman of the purpose of our Creator within His designed world order. For example, one king (David) expressed this to God:

You reveal the path of life to me (Psalm 16:11).

Then, we have God speaking to this same king:

I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel (Psalm 32:8),

leading this king to assure us:

The counsel of the Lord stands forever (Psalm 33:11).

This is tremendously reassuring to the one who must make decisions affecting the lives of the people.

God, clarifying further His intentions to one of His servants in a way I am convinced applies to each of our lives:

I am with you, … I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will hold onto you with My righteous right hand (Isaiah 41:10).

This promise of God holding us by the hand, leading and guiding us, is tremendously reassuring to the Statesman. When we have a personal friendship with God that fills this vacuum, He guides us along the loving path He has for us. This has immense implications for the Statesman. As a part of the vacuum we are addressing, the Statesman often does not know the decision to make in fulfilling His responsibilities and needs God to fill this vacuum in guiding him. Thus, leaving the vacuum unfulfilled has great implications for the Statesman and, especially for those he or she is called to serve, as decisions are easily made inconsistent with the good our Creator intends.

There are also implications for the personal life of the Statesman when one considers that this life is a pathway to our eternal existence – either an eternity with our Creator in heaven, or an eternity separated from Him referred to as hell.

How does the Statesman fill this vacuum? Let us return to the statement that Pascal made:

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of each human which cannot be satisfied by any created thing but only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.

Pascal, consistent with everything our Creator has taught us, made clear that this vacuum must be filled uniquely:

only by God the Creator made known through Jesus Christ.

Referring to this issue, Jesus made clear that His death is the one and only payment for the consequences of our sin nature that separates every individual from God, as He paid the penalty for us which no human is capable of paying for oneself:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

And the result:

I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will never die – ever (John 11:25).

Each one of us must claim this payment that has already been made on our behalf by Jesus and is freely available to us.

APPLICATION TO THE STATESMAN:

Have I addressed the vacuum that God has lovingly placed in my life to remind me that I need His help?

Do I understand that leaving this vacuum empty hinders me from meeting the needs of my people as God intended?

Am I willing to humble myself and embrace Jesus as the One and only One who can fill this vacuum in my life as Pascal prescribes and has eternal consequences for me?

The post The Vacuum as It Relates to the Statesman appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

I believe that we can only remain optimistic in the midst of events in our world today if we can answer for ourselves this one question: Does God Intervene in the Affairs of Nations? This is a time of tremendous uncertainty. We see decisions being made in our world that alarm us. Decisions are made that hurt others either by accident or with evil motivation. At best, decisions seem to be made with very narrow interests in mind, not for the general good. This is complicated by the fact that our nations are now so inter-connected that a decision made in one corner of our world affects those across the globe. As a consequence, the problems we face in leading our nations seem beyond the ability of any individual to solve. The question is on all of our lips: Is there any help for us?

I want to test two hypotheses with you: First, there is a God actively involved in the affairs of our nations. Second, His help is essential in leading and building healthy nations. For two decades I have been testing, together with government officials, the proposition that our nations must be governed in partnership with God. I would like to share with you some of those conclusions. I would also like to help you understand the work that God is doing in the life of each government official so that you can better understand the work of God around your own life.

Let me give you background information before we begin testing these hypotheses. God spoke through one of His servants to reveal the following truth:

He rules forever by His power, His eyes watch the nations.¹

You (God) rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth.²

These affirm that there is a God who has created each nation with a purpose and a plan, and who is actively working out His purposes for each nation. God has described the general tenets of His plan as follows:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ³

God has a plan for each of our nations that is good in every way.

He pointedly tells us that He intervenes in our human plans to accomplish His purposes, with these words: “The LORD foils the plans of the nations”—that is, the plans of human origin that contradict His. God goes on to tell us: “He thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the LORD stand firm for ever, the purposes of His heart through all generations.”⁴

One essential component of His plan is government. Government is God’s idea. It did not originate with man. God gave us His perspective on this institution when, referring to governing officials, He said:

There is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted…The authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.⁵

Government is a God-ordained institution, established by God specifically for the purpose of achieving an orderly society in which each individual can reach his or her full potential. All government officials are servants of God, with responsibility for administering this institution. They are servants of God as much as any clergy. The Head of Government is chief among these.

God has given us one more piece of information. He has told us: “He sets up kings and deposes them.”⁶ Although the head of the nation is important to God because of the crucial role he or she plays in God’s plan, God often makes an example of the head of the nation to illustrate a fundamental principle. Generally, the principle God elucidates for the head of the nation applies, by extension, to all government officials. Here, we may conclude that God actively puts into office all government officials, yourself included, regardless of the human instrumentation He uses.

God’s Active Intervention in the Lives of Government Officials.

Now, let us begin testing the hypothesis that there is a God actively involved in the affairs of a nation and its administration. God’s active intervention in the lives of government officials is readily visible in the lives of two powerful rulers who headed early empires. During a six-century period leading up to the birth of Christ, the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman Empires, in succession, dominated the known world. God intervened in the lives of Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylonia, and Cyrus, King of Persia, for all the world to see.

God said the following to Cyrus, King of Persia:

I am the Lord…who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd and will accomplish all that I please”….This is what the Lord says to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of….”so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God…who summons you by name….I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honour, though you do not acknowledge Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; apart from Me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged Me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides Me.”⁷

Who is speaking here? Clearly, it is God Himself. He describes Cyrus as “My shepherd” and as “His anointed.” He also makes it clear that as Cyrus enters office, he does “not acknowledge Me.” God summons Cyrus by name, picks him up, takes hold of his right hand to guide him, bestows upon him a title of great honour, places His anointing upon him, strengthens him, and uses him as His shepherd even though Cyrus does not initially acknowledge God. This tells us about God’s patience with us while we learn to work with our unseen Master.

The expression rendered “so that” in the English communicates cause and effect. There are two powerful “so that” statements in the passage we are looking at. The first is: so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God…. God’s first purpose in the life of Cyrus is that he would know for certain that God exists and is in charge. Parenthetically, the word know here does not mean to know about, but rather conveys experiential knowledge.8,9 The same original word is used of the intimacy between two lovers. All of the things that God does in the life of Cyrus, none of which he deserves, are so that Cyrus will know and experience God for himself. By extension, we may conclude that God’s first great purpose in the life of the head of nation, and of every government official, is that he or she knows God in an intimate, experiential way. I am convinced the discerning government official will be able to see God’s hand at work if he or she is willing. I am convinced that this truth applies to every public servant, yourself included.

The second “so that” statement is: so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides Me. God’s second great purpose in the life of the head of nation is that everyone else, as they watch the leader, will recognize the work of God. God works in the life of the head of nation so that members of society will recognize that there is a God who rules over that nation and the lives of all men and women. In Cyrus’ case, God’s expressed impact encompassed all of humanity, because Cyrus ruled the whole, known world. The application of this truth is that the impact is upon everyone under the administration of the head of the nation. Likewise, when you apply this principle to government officials at other levels, the ones impacted are those under the jurisdiction of the official.

From God’s hand in the life of Cyrus, we learn that the government official is so important in God’s overall work on this earth that God sovereignly picks up an individual, and supernaturally places him or her in office. He does this with two overpowering objectives:

1. so that you may know that I am the Lord,
2. so that all those under your jurisdiction may know there is none besides Me.

We have no choice but to conclude that God is actively involved in the affairs of a nation and its leaders. This is made even clearer by the knowledge that God revealed these instructions and His purposes to Cyrus 170 years before he reigned. God gave these instructions to Cyrus in 710 B.C., whereas Cyrus actually began his reign in 539 B.C. God has His hand so much on the affairs of a nation that He could reveal His work in Cyrus’ life long before Cyrus was born!

With this kind of intervention in the life of a ruler, you would expect him to change the way he governed for the better. The impact of God on Cyrus’ life is in evidence within the halls of the United Nations. In the second-floor corridor between the Security Council and the Trusteeship Council is a copy of a document issued by Cyrus. The original may be viewed in the British Museum.^10,11,12,13 Cyrus begins this document:

I am Cyrus, King of the World, Great King, Mighty King, King of Babylon…; King of the Four Quarters…

He then proceeds to describe his takeover of Babylon:

I, well-disposed, entered Babylon and amidst public jubilation, sat on the royal throne…My numerous troops took over Babylon without molestation. I allowed no one to harass or terrorize the people…I concerned myself with the needs of Babylonians…to promote their well-being. I freed the citizens of Babylonia from the yoke of servitude. I restored their dilapidated dwellings and redressed their grievances.

Cyrus describes himself as a compassionate ruler. That he, indeed, ruled in such a manner is supported by other historical evidence. This document testifies to a ruler being changed from the inside to sincerely care about the people. God picked up this man who did not initially acknowledge God and worked in his heart in such a way that he broke with the prevailing tradition of harsh, authoritarian rule. In fact, this document hanging in the U.N. is aptly entitled “The First Known Human Rights Declaration.” God’s work in the life of Cyrus is real and it is dramatic.

We can also gain valuable understanding by looking at the way God dealt with the head of the first of the four empires, the Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar II was King of Babylon at the zenith of its power. Thus, Nebuchadnezzar was presumably the most powerful ruler who ever lived. As such, he was proud and arrogant. God warned him to humble himself for more than a year. Finally, after Nebuchadnezzar continued to ignore these warnings, God humbled him by removing his sanity. Nebuchadnezzar spent the next 7 years living as a wild animal in the forest. Nebuchadnezzar describes his experience in a fascinating, open letter that concludes with these words:

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes towards heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified Him who lives for ever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; His kingdom endures from generation to generation….He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No-one can hold back His hand or say to Him: “What have You done?” At the same time that my sanity was restored, my honour and splendour were returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne and became even greater than before. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble.¹⁴

Although the Bible is the most accurate historical book of antiquity,15 there are other historical works surviving from the early sixth century B.C. that support Nebuchadnezzar’s absence from the throne for a lengthy period.^16,17,18

What I find fascinating is that this man—presumably the most powerful ruler in history, who lost 7 years of glory and material benefit due to God’s discipline—expressed no resentment toward God, only the highest admiration. We must conclude that even when God has to correct us as we deviate from His path for us, He does it in such a way that we can recognize His love for us.

Can we find God working out the same two overpowering objectives in Nebuchadnezzar’s life that He did in Cyrus’ life?

1. so that you may know that I am the Lord,
2. so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides Me.

Yes, we can! Nebuchadnezzar made it very clear that he recognized God’s working in his life. You might think that it would be easy for Nebuchadnezzar to recognize God’s hand working in his life. However, pride can blind a government official, especially the head of a nation. And in Nebuchadnezzar’s case, it took seven years before he was able to recognize that it was God working in his life. Secondly, through Nebuchadnezzar’s clear words, every subject in his empire would know there is a God who reigns over the empire and over their lives. We can imagine that both Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus governed more compassionately as a result of recognizing God working in their lives.

From my view at the United Nations, I have a partial, albeit very incomplete, picture of what God is doing in the lives of heads of nations. I have seen God working in the lives of dozens of heads of nations. So as not to betray trust, I will share very cautiously, without identifying anyone. One example is a man who governed for several years as a Marxist dictator. With the close of the Cold War and the opening up of his country to multi-party elections, he was soundly defeated in the first open election and removed from office. In the process, God began to work in his life. God caused him to repent before the parliament, certainly sparing him from the consequences of his past abuses. He then focused his life on getting to know God. When the next elections were held in his country, he had so changed that he was elected by popular acclaim to head the nation. Those around him tell me that there is no comparison between the way he governs now and the way he governed before. God was working out the same two purposes in this man’s life as He did in Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar. And in the process, this man governs more compassionately as God is becoming the ruler in his personal life. It appears that God took him through a Nebuchadnezzar experience and, in the process, changed him into God’s instrument in the nation.

Let me share one more example of God intervening in the affairs of our nations today. Two decades ago, there was a nation without the strong leadership it had experienced for many decades. Rivalries developed within the cabinet, each with his own backing, and the nation seemed destined for bloodshed. In the midst of this, followers of Jesus came into that nation. In response to their teaching, God changed hearts, and spiritual rejuvenation occurred throughout the nation. During the course of their stay, these spiritual leaders met with the cabinet. There were changed hearts and spiritual renewal within the cabinet as well. A few days later, one powerful minister came to the Prime Minister to apologize for his intentions and to express a desire to cooperate. As a result of changed hearts among the leadership, bloodshed was averted and the nation was saved. The change was so dramatic that when I shared this example, using similarly vague wording, with an audience that included a later Prime Minister of this nation, he came to me afterward and said, “That was my country you were speaking about!” God still works in the affairs of nations and in the lives of leaders. We simply need the eyes to see.

Not only does God intervene for the sake of nations, but He demonstrates His compassion, even more remarkably, by intervening in individual lives. A number of years ago, Elaine’s and my lives were forever changed when God intervened in her life. Elaine was diagnosed as having a malignant ovarian tumour at an advanced stage. This kind of tumour at such an advanced stage is very difficult to treat effectively. Furthermore, the malignancy had spread to other locations in her reproductive system. Did this mean that God was going to allow my beloved wife to die? We did not believe it was God’s intent. Two days later, she returned for further testing. As she was waiting in the examination room for the tests, in great pain, Jesus appeared to her in person. This was a miracle in itself. He told her: “You are going to be all right. You are going to be all right.” She thought this meant she would not die from the cancer, but that she would have to undergo extensive treatment. Then, Jesus disappeared. A few minutes later, the medical technician began the tests and scanned her body for an hour looking for the tumour, but could find none! Subsequently, the doctors have taken tissue samples but have found no evidence of cancer cells. The symptoms, which had been present for more than a year, immediately left and never returned. She did not need any medical treatment. God clearly performed a miracle! God still intervenes in the lives of individuals today with a love that seems unwarranted.

As we consider God’s intervention, let us be honest. We must conclude that we, as God’s human instruments, have betrayed our responsibilities by not seeking to make decisions as God would have us and, as a result, we have made terrible mistakes, inflicting needless suffering. For example, I feel that we in the West should get down on our knees before the people of Africa and repent for the mess we have handed them through artificially carving up the continent and forcing peoples without natural affinities to function together. Similarly, at Yalta in February 1945, tens of millions of people were arbitrarily condemned to decades of dehumanization at the whim of influential decision-makers. And there are countless injustices being experienced today, all starting with the premise that there is no God reigning over our nations, to whom we must look and to whom we are directly accountable in every action we take.

One issue that causes me great pain is that the constitution drafted for the newly independent United States in 1787 tolerated the dehumanizing institution of slavery. Decades later, it was the sense of God’s directive to correct this injustice that drove Abraham Lincoln. Looking at his struggles as he sought to correct this injustice, we gain insight into his perspective on our active God. In the midst of this struggle, one man said to Lincoln:

Slavery must be stricken down wherever it exists. If we do not do right, I believe God will let us go our own way to our ruin. But if we do right I believe he will lead us safely out of this wilderness, crown our arms with victory, and restore our now dissevered Union.

Lincoln replied:

My faith is greater than yours. I…believe that He will compel us to do right in order that He may do these things, not so much because we desire them as that they accord with His plan of dealing with this nation, in the midst of which He means to establish justice.¹⁹

Lincoln saw God as working out a plan greater than our own. Our responsibility is to seek to understand that plan and to cooperate with Almighty God in achieving it.

What happens when there is injustice and we do not see God intervening? We must be quick to realize there are times when there is more He asks of us. For example, He has told us:

If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.²⁰

Many times God’s plan includes the requirement for our active participation.

This afternoon, we have taken a very small look at the way God works and intervenes in the affairs of nations and the lives of leaders to accomplish His grand purposes. If we are going to be honest, the conclusion we are forced to draw is that if God is at work in these ways that we can see, we must believe that He is at work in other ways that we cannot see.

As we look at our nations and our world from any angle, it is clear that we need help beyond ourselves. In many cases, our people are worse off than they were 40 years ago. Our hope cannot be in the one superpower. Our hope cannot be in the IMF or the World Bank. And, sadly, as significant as the U.N. is, even it cannot save us. No human force can be the source of our hope. We need the help of the one and only real superpower—Almighty God.

I am convinced that any honest Head of State/Government or other government official will readily admit that administering a nation is beyond the capability of any human being. For a national leader to try to fulfil his responsibilities without seeking to understand the mind of God and depending upon Him would be analogous to your piloting a ship through the barrier reef around Bermuda without using the navigational maps that are available. Let me ask you: Would the use of those navigational maps be an insult to your intelligence, or an affront to your leadership ability? Of course not! It would be common sense. How foolish it would be to view a national leader’s expression of dependence upon God as a sign of weakness! Guiding our nations is far more complex than navigating a ship through a reef.

If a leader fails to view himself as the junior partner in this relationship and ignores God’s purposes and plans for the nation, I am convinced that untold, unnecessary suffering will be experienced by the people, suffering that cannot be fully alleviated no matter how much money or manpower is poured out in an effort to overcome the problem. Let me ask this question: If the work of the government official is so special to God that He intervenes in the life and actions of that official even before that official acknowledges his Master, shouldn’t we readily cooperate with our Master rather than forcing Him to drag us along like a stubborn, disobedient child?

How can we capture the help that only God provides?

The crucial question becomes: How do we become so intimately linked with God as to become His instrument in the leadership of our nations? God created us out of love and for the purpose of bestowing love upon us as part of this intimate relationship. The God who reigns over nations is holy—without moral imperfection. However, clearly, we are not morally perfect. We have the capacity for evil. We hurt others, even the ones we love, by our selfishness. Our moral imperfection—our unholiness—blocks this relationship with God. It blocks us from the full benefits available to us as human beings, whether as private citizens or government officials. Our unholiness is incompatible with God’s perfect holiness. By ourselves, there is no way we can come into the presence of Holy God. By ourselves, we are eternally separated from the One who created us and loves us. The eternal consequences are great when one recognizes that being separated from our Creator at the end of this lifetime means a literal hell.

How can this blocked relationship with God be overcome? We need a way to be forgiven so that God can draw us close to Himself. By ourselves, there is no way we can accomplish this. Only Almighty God can do it. That is precisely why God Himself came to earth as Jesus to die on our behalf to pay the penalty for our sins. God has told us:

Jesus is the image of the invisible God….By Jesus all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together…He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Jesus and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things…by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.²¹

Mahatma Gandhi described that sacrifice when he said that Jesus, “a man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”²²

Thus, Jesus has told us “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”²³ God has told us “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”²⁴ Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God is able to forgive us and to see us as holy. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the only provision given to mankind whereby we can have our sins forgiven and have this intimate relationship with God. God has told us:

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation.²⁵

God took the sinless Christ and poured into Him our sins. Then, in exchange, He poured God’s goodness into us!²⁶

Let me be very clear: What I am advocating is not religion. It is the person of Jesus. As God Himself, Jesus is for all of us, not just certain races, cultures, or regions of the world. I believe this is what Mahatma Gandhi meant when he said:

Because the life of Jesus has the significance and the transcendency to which I have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to Christianity, but to the entire world; to all races and people, it matters little under what flag, name or doctrine they may work, profess a faith or worship a God inherited from their ancestors.²⁷

The repentance and forgiveness that allows us to have an intimate relationship with God and, as a result to operate in partnership with God as His servant in our nations, is centred in the person of Jesus. Let us not think we can have this any other way but through embracing Jesus and Him alone.

How do we place our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, so we can experience this intimate relationship with God? The illustration that communicates best to me relates to the region where I grew up—near Niagara Falls. The water flows over Niagara Falls so violently that if anyone falls into the water, it is certain death. Many people do risky things over Niagara Falls to gain attention. One of these was a tightrope walker. He had a wire strung over the Falls, from one side to the other. This man first walked along this wire from one side of the Falls to the other, and back. Then, as the crowd grew, he repeated his walk but this time he pushed a wheelbarrow in front of him as he walked over to the other side and back. Then, he boldly filled the wheelbarrow with bricks and guided it along the wire over the Falls. By this time, the crowd had grown very large and was cheering loudly for him. He then asked the crowd “How many of you believe I can take this wheelbarrow over the Falls carrying a person inside instead of these bricks?” The crowd cheered wildly. Then, he asked the crowd “Who is willing to get into the wheelbarrow?” The crowd became silent. Their belief lacked 100% confidence. To place our faith in Jesus Christ means to get into the wheelbarrow with Him, making ourselves completely dependent upon Him. Our sole basis for having our sins forgiven and for entering a close relationship with God is Jesus’ death on our behalf.

It is this making ourselves dependent upon Jesus that gives us the capacity to see God’s hand at work in our nations and to help achieve His purposes. No one—neither you nor I—can become the agent God would use in the lives of our nations without the life of Jesus in us. Therefore, if you are serious about developing the kind of relationship with God necessary for building a healthy world, I challenge you to come to Him. Jesus invites us:

If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.”²⁸

As we come to Jesus and drink, He will satisfy us and this will spill over to others in our societies, causing them to come to Jesus and drink. As others around us drink, there will be a growing corps of individuals who are able to begin partnering with God to build healthy nations.

For this reason, I invite you to come to Jesus and drink. Let me encourage you to embrace the Master Shepherd of our world and your life. I encourage you to invite Jesus into your life by praying to God:

Holy God, please forgive me for sinning against You. Thank You for loving me enough that You came to this earth as Jesus and died on my behalf so that I could have an intimate relationship with You. I ask You to come into my life to dwell. Today, I receive You as my Saviour from my sins. I ask You to guide me moment-by-moment as I serve You. Thank You. Amen.

Not only will this start you on the most exciting journey known to mankind, but it is the most significant thing each of us can do to become God’s agents for implementing His plans within our world.

References

NOTE: All Bible references are from the New International Version unless otherwise indicated.

1. Bible, Psalm 66:7.
2. Ibid., Psalm 67:4.
3. Ibid., Jeremiah 29:11.
4. Ibid., Psalm 33:10-11.
5. Ibid., Romans 13:1,2,6.
6. Ibid., Daniel 2:21.
7. Ibid., Isaiah 44:24,28-45:6.
8. James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1907, republished Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 1979).
9. J. D. Douglas, Editor, The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), p. 702.
10. Joseph P. Free, Archaeology and Bible History (Wheaton, Ill.: Van Kampen Press, 1950), p. 237.
11. Magnus Magnusson, Archaeology of the Bible (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977), p. 208.
12. Werner Keller, The Bible as History, 2nd Revised Edition, translated from the German by William Neil (New York: William Morrow and Co., 1981), pp. 299-300.
13. Leon Wood, A Survey of Israel’s History (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970), p. 388.
14. Bible, Daniel 4:34-37.
15. John McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Revised Edition (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1979), p. 39-74.
16. Josh McDowell, Daniel in the Critics’ Den: Historical Evidence For the Authenticity Of the Book Of Daniel (San Bernardino, CA: Here’s Life Publishers, 1979), p. 123-4.
17. Fred H. Wight, Highlights of Archaeology in Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody Press, 1955), pp. 65-66.
18. Robert Anderson, Daniel in the Critics’ Den: A Defense of the Historicity of the Book of Daniel (1990 paperback reprint), p.
19. Abraham Lincoln, quoted in Elton Trueblood, Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish (New York: Harper & Row, 1973), pp. 126 127.
20. Bible, 2 Chronicles 7:14.
21. Ibid., Colossians 1:15 20.
22. Mohandas K. Gandhi, Nonviolence in Peace and War (1948), 2.166.
23. Bible, John 14:6.
24. Ibid., Acts 4:12.
25. Ibid., Colossians 1:21 22.
26. Bible, Living Version, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
27. Mohandas K. Gandhi, in The Modern Review, October 1941, quoted in Mohandas K. Gandhi (Anand T. Hingorani, ed.), The Message of Jesus Christ (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan, 1971), p. 111.
28. Bible, New American Standard Version, John 7:37 38.

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President Abraham Lincoln made a thought-provoking statement while in office:

In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am.

And he repeated the same idea on another occasion:

I hold myself in my present position and with the authority vested in me as an instrument of [God].

What could he possibly have meant by such statements? The idea expressed of being an instrument in the hand of Almighty God is intriguing, recognizing that Government is the idea of our Creator who cannot be seen with physical eyes. We know from His revealed instruction that He designed Government “so that [everyone] may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:2). We have the further challenge that all of this is to be implemented by human beings operating in the physical dimension. What kind of a leader can achieve this? Addressing popular governance, Michael Novak commented that it requires recognition of:

the reality of sin…. Without that [recognition], the institutions will not function or long endure. This republic was designed for sinners. There is no use trying to build a republic for saints. There are too few of them… No, if you wish to build a republic that will last, you must design it for sinners….a republic of sinners — and, therefore, a republic with checks and balances.

The irony of democratic governance is that you have human beings with a sinful nature making decisions that will allow human beings, also with a sinful nature, to experience “a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

It takes a very special person to serve in such a capacity. God described that person through King David, who, in spite of his human imperfections, sought to be God’s instrument as he governed for 40 years. At the end of his life, he summarized the lessons he had learned regarding the kind of person God would use as His instrument:

The one who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God (2 Samuel 23:3).

The one who wishes to rule as God’s instrument must “rule the people with justice” and must “rule in the fear of God”. Jesus described the challenge such a leader who desires to be good must consider:

What profit is there in gaining the whole world when it means forfeiting one’s self? (Luke 9:25)

This is the challenge a governing official must recognize. The leader has great authority at his disposal intended to be used to achieve for the people what they are unable to achieve for themselves with their limited power. However, there is also the temptation to use that great power for personal benefit. God addressed this issue before one nation placed its first king into office:

When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll… It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left… (Deuteronomy 17:18-20).

The leader is to be so immersed in God’s instructions to understand his responsibility as his Master would have him. To ensure that immersion, the king, as the prototype for all governing officials, was even to write out those instructions from God using his own hand. He is required to be immersed in understanding the heart and mind of God. In the process, the expectation is that two things will happen.

Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen. He will not view himself as more important than his countrymen. Literally, he will view himself as servant to his fellow countrymen.

He will not turn from this command (God’s instructions) to the right or the left. He will not give in to temptation to deviate. One servant of God has testified to the life that this involves:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).

One king testified to the benefit of such a work of God:

The secret counsel of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He reveals His covenant to them (Psalm 25:14).

God Himself gave this insight:

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways. For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

It is not enough to want to be obedient to God. We must recognize that our well-intentioned wisdom is not adequate and we must seek His wisdom. If we operated according to these principles, who would really be making the decisions? It would be none other than Almighty God Himself. God who cannot be seen with human eyes would be operating within this physical world through us as His physical hands and feet. I believe it was considerations such as these that caused President Lincoln to express that he viewed himself as an “instrument in the hands of God”. Such a statement means to view oneself as operating under God’s direction, at His instruction, literally as His instrument.

APPLICATION TO THE STATESMAN. Do I view myself as operating under God’s direction, and upon His instruction, literally an “instrument in the hands of God”? What may I do to better operate as an “instrument in the hands of God” as President Lincoln expressed? Reflecting that President Lincoln referred to himself not only as “an instrument in the hands of God”, but as a “humble instrument”, am I able to humble myself before my ultimate Master?

The post The Statesman’s High Privilege to Be an Instrument in the Hands of Almighty God appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

At the heart of our desire to be Statesmen, rather than simply politicians, is understanding our Creator’s desired role in our lives and decisions.

At stake is our ability to move from a view of the likelihood of God’s existence to complete confidence in Him and the sense that He is our closest, most-trusted friend. The issue is our gaining knowledge of Him, unseen though He is with physical eyes, employing our attempts limited by our five senses.

Fortunately, He is even more eager for us to know Him than we are to know Him. In the midst of this journey on the part of our fellow humans is His expression to our forefathers:

“Test Me in this way,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure (Malachi 3:10).

Our Lord spoke this in a specific context. Nevertheless, it reveals a principle underlying God’s effort for us to know Him and trust Him – His challenge for us to put Him to the test. He is not afraid of the challenge and confident that if we put Him to the test, we will gain in trust for Him.

What sets apart the God who reigns over the universe from every other god mankind may worship is His challenge for us to put Him to the test. In general, religion expects its adherents to blindly trust, but the one true God realizes our need as finite physical beings to wrestle with Him in an effort to gain confidence in Him. The challenge for us human beings, who tend to examine employing our five senses, is to avoid failing to ‘see’ our infinite God. As we consider this issue, it is important to remember that our Creator takes active steps to assist us in this process. The French physicist and mathematician of the 17th century, Blaise Pascal, reminds us:

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.

He has planted a desire for Him within us that opens our spiritual ‘eyes’ to look for Him and be able to see Him.

One of our early forefathers, Job, wrestled with God as he faced challenges imposed not by God, but by our evil adversary. After wrestling with God for years over these challenges, he finally exclaimed to God:

I had only heard about You before, but now I have seen You with my own eyes (Job 42:5).

He was so convinced of God’s good hand upon his life that he had the same confidence as if he had seen with physical eyes.

Our God asks us to put Him to the test at each stage of our journey as we learn to trust Him and know Him intimately as our closest friend.

In my own journey, I have sensed Him asking me to put Him to the test in small steps of trust, recognizing my human weakness, then to wait in expectation for Him to answer and show Himself strong on my behalf. As the journey has continued, He asked me to trust Him for larger issues, including where my life depended upon it. As He has promised each of us, He has never failed me. I have failed Him, but He has never failed me.

It is especially relevant that God challenged one of our forefathers, Joshua, just as he was installed as head of nation:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9).

A few centuries later, as one king (David) was handing the throne to his son (Solomon), he admonished him with these words:

Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. (1 Chronicles 28:20).

This is consistent with each generation teaching the next generation what we have learned about our Creator. As we move forward in this journey, let us act on God’s challenge to our forefathers, as well as the testimony of all who have put Him to the test, and upon its significance to us on our journey:

“Test Me in this way,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure (Malachi 3:10).

Where do we begin in testing God? We are admonished:

Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for (1 John 5:14-15).

A good place to begin in testing Him is understanding His promises to us as revealed in His instruction book, and then testing Him with regard to those promises.

As we proceed to test His love for us, let us view His challenge as His immense love for us and remember that He desires our friendship even more than we desire His. Hence, we are reminded that He desires us to address Him affectionately as, paraphrasing, “Dearest Father” (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15).

APPLICATION TO THE LIFE OF THE STATESMAN.

Can I say that I view Almighty God as my closest friend? Can I address Him with the intimacy of “Dearest Father”?

Is there a next step of trust I could take as He desires to reveal Himself to me?

Do I recognize that His guidance in my life could help me to be a better shepherd to the people, thereby more of a Statesman?

The post The Statesman Wrestles with God appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

I believe everyone is familiar with the encounter that David had with Goliath. David was a teenager. Goliath was a 9’9” tall, seasoned, powerful warrior. Everyone knows that David fearlessly felled this giant with a pebble employing a slingshot, perhaps the crudest of all instruments. However, I am convinced that there is more to the story. When David asked to be the one to fight the giant, he repeatedly referred to “the living God”. It is worth considering what David meant by his expression “the living God”. And I am convinced that it is this perspective that is the key to his miraculous success – one that we can appropriate for our own life and service.

The phrase “the living God” is a powerful expression. The addition of the word “living” implies active and involved. From this, we recognize that David viewed God as intimately involved in the lives of His children – involved in every aspect of our lives. We may interpret that David viewed God as hearing and responding, and with compassion and power in response to his needs. God demonstrated that David’s understanding and trust were not misplaced. There is no way we can explain in human terms what David accomplished during that encounter with Goliath.

We learn more about “the living God” and His interaction with fallen man as we watch David’s ensuing life unfold. David is an anomaly to us because when he was King, he allowed his view of God to lapse when he sinned with Bathsheba. And he paid dearly for that lapse. He was disciplined severely by his Lord for his disobedience, reminding him again that our Lord is “the living God”.

Even as David responded to God as he was confronted with his sin through God’s prophet, we see his view of our Master as the “living God”:

Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me…So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge…Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Turn Your face away from my sins and blot out all my guilt. God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore the joy of Your salvation to me (Psalm 51:1-2,5-12).

When David pleaded with God “Do not banish me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me”, he recognized that he could not take God’s presence on his behalf for granted. He understood the need for God’s forgiveness and the fact that he could not automatically expect this as a part of His being “the living God” – and certainly not as a result of our Lord being an object of worship. When David pleaded “God, create in me a clean heart”, the word he chose for “create” means not to improve something blemished or imperfect but rather to “create out of nothing”, recognizing that God would have to produce something for which there was not the raw material or a starting point within David’s life. There is nothing David could provide out of which God could create a clean heart. This would have to be a work of God alone.

Possibly, Psalm 23 is one of the tenderest songs that David wrote to God, written years after David’s sin with Bathsheba. In it, David expressed “He restores my soul” (23:3). Again, we see the view of “the living God”.

Listen to David’s heart expressed years after sinning with Bathsheba:

The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD; for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers…. Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in. Who is He, this King of glory? The LORD of Hosts, He is the King of glory. (Psalm 24:1-2,8-10)

Here, we see David expressing an intimate friendship, one that would reflect that God is “the living God”. Listen to the words of David later in his life:

A man’s steps are established by the LORD, and He takes pleasure in his way. Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, because the LORD holds his hand. I have been young and now I am old, yet I have not seen the righteous abandoned or his children begging for bread. He is always generous, always lending, and his children are a blessing. (Psalms 37:23-26)

These are the words of a man who experienced his Lord as “the living God” throughout a lifetime. We learn a lot from David’s life about this One who is “the living God”. He is intimately involved in our lives. He responds to our obedience to Him, and He disciplines us when we disobey Him. As “the living God”, He does not leave us to guess what He wants us to do. He makes it very clear as we call upon Him. In response, He promises to hold our hand. What more can a Statesman wish for?

David is considered to have been a good King, by God and man. He is representative of human beings with an imperfect nature desiring to do good for those he was called to serve. I propose for your consideration that his view of our Creator as “the living God” played a key part in his life and service. My challenge is for you to get to know God as David did and to have Him as your “living”, active partner throughout your life, guiding you and holding your hand.

The post The View of God Upon Which to Build Statesmanship appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

The reality is that the objective of the Statesman is to achieve well-being for the people in an imperfect world. As we seek to be just and fair leaders, it is essential that we are realistic about what we are dealing with. We need this realism in our understanding and expectations. It is essential to understand the obstacle that the fallen nature of mankind will play in achieving this well-being for our people. This fallen nature will impact three groups essential in achieving our goals as Statesmen:

1. Those we serve.
2. Those we serve with.
3. Ourselves

What is this fallen nature and how does it impact the governing process? It is expressed quite bluntly, in God’s Words:

There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become useless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one (Romans 3:10-12).

Our Creator, out of His love, has given us the freedom to choose to obey His clear instructions, or not, in our decisions. All too often, we choose to follow our own desires in defiance of His way. Let us consider how this impacts the three parties:

1. Those we serve. Although we are called to serve the people, because of their fallen nature, we cannot rely upon their ability to express to us what they really need. This is where the analogy of shepherding becomes relevant. As their shepherds, we must recognize their needs and be sensitive to them, even if the sheep are unable to properly identify those needs. As good shepherds, we must listen to the sheep carefully. However, we must also listen for what their fallen nature prevents them from being able to express.
2. Those we serve with. Recalling what it means to be a Statesman, one of the many voices has reminded us:

A politician thinks of the next election, a statesman of the next generation. A politician looks for the success of his party; a statesman for that of his country. The statesman wishes to steer, while the politician is satisfied to drift (James Freeman Clarke).

The reality is that the vast majority of those involved in the governing process will not likely be Statesmen. They will be, as this critique describes: politicians. And yet, democratic governance makes us dependent upon their cooperation. Realistically, they will tend to be driven by self-promoting motivations. Realizing that every human has two natures – one desiring to do good, and the other driven for personal advancement – we must appeal to the good that is available within these imperfect humans. We must persuade and help them to do the right thing.

3. Ourselves. Our most formidable enemy is the fallen nature within ourselves. We also have a selfish nature that we must continually overcome. Although we are committed to doing good, our own fallen nature can blind us to what the sheep really need and what we should be working to achieve. As one servant of God expressed:

For I do not understand what I am doing, because I do not practice what I want to do, but I do what I hate. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me (Romans 7:15-21).

This servant of God went even further in describing the battle within:

But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body (Romans 7:23).

We must be alert every moment to the battle going on inside us – within our minds. God has given us the promise of victory over our fallen nature:

 His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desires (2 Peter 1:3-4). 

Furthermore, God has instructed us with His principles for victory over our fallen nature that would interfere with making the decisions appropriate for a Statesman:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:19-20).

And then, putting to death each deed of our fallen nature must be done with the help of God’s Holy Spirit:

So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Romans 8:12-13).

God has given us His Holy Spirit to live within us to guide us but also to give us the power to overcome the temptation to give in to our fallen nature. His Holy Spirit shows us when we are about to stumble, i.e., give in to our fallen nature. And His Holy Spirit gives us the power to put to death one fruit at a time of our fallen nature. Victory is assuredly available, but we can never rest in victory. Victory must involve a continuous response to our fallen nature’s active effort to pull us into its seductive web.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! (1 Corinthians 15:57)

Let us experience this victory. Let us live in the victory our Maker provides for us, allowing us to be the Statesman He intends us to be.

The post The Fallen Nature of Mankind as It Impacts the Statesman appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

We know very well that it is not sufficient just to begin well. If I were to ask who was the outstanding leader of all time, using external criteria of wealth, wisdom, grandeur, as well as avowed desire to obey God and to be His instrument, instinctively we would answer Solomon. And toward the beginning of his reign, this would seem to be correct. Looking at Solomon’s heart attitude as he expressed to God at the beginning of his reign:

“LORD my God, You have now made Your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a youth with no experience in leadership. Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted. So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” (1 Kings 3:7-9)

Describing his intended reign, he said in the third person:

“…he will rescue the poor who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. He will have pity on the poor and helpless and save the lives of the poor. He will redeem them from oppression and violence for their lives are precious in his sight.” (Psalms 72:12- 14)

In retrospect, perhaps no leader in history had more going for him to be a great leader. However, if we take a snapshot later in his reign, we see a different picture:

King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women from the nations that the LORD had told the Israelites about, “Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away from Me to their gods.” Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved them. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the LORD. When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. His heart was not completely with the LORD his God, as his father David’s heart had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the LORD’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow the LORD.” (1 Kings 11:1-6)

In Solomon’s case, the temptation he gave into was satisfaction of fleshly desires. Not only did Solomon fail in his personal life, he destroyed the kingdom God had given him. It was immediately divided after his death, and then the larger of those two divisions disappeared for all time. It cannot even be traced today. The temptation Solomon gave into is just one of many possibilities available to us. Nevertheless, it presents a vivid example.

The root of Solomon’s failings began at the very beginning of his reign as can be understood from these words:

“Solomon loved the LORD by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.” (1 Kings 3:3)

The latter was warned against and forbidden by God (Deuteronomy 12:2) and was an act of disobedience toward Him. Solomon held back part of his heart for himself rather than giving it all to his Lord. And it was this holding back from wholehearted obedience that placed him on the slippery slope to failure. I do not believe he intended to fall. However, beginning with a small step of disobedience that he allowed himself, he took one step after another that led to his complete failure.

As the Apostle Paul is about to be put to death, he wrote regarding one of his co-workers:

“Demas has deserted me, because he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica.” (2 Timothy 4:10)

Demas had risked his life during the years Paul was imprisoned in Rome. He publicly identified with Paul throughout, when to do so was extremely dangerous. Finally, this devoted follower abandoned Paul and the Lord, never to be heard of again in Church history. My speculation is that he did not make a decision to turn evil, selling himself to the devil. Rather, I believe he began with one small step of disobedience in his thought life, which made it easier to take further steps in disobedience.

The exercise of office provides many temptations for us. The temptation(s) Solomon gave into are just some of the many possibilities. Our loving Father, knowing our nature warned us against this and provided an antidote.

The first step is to for our minds to be immersed in God’s Law. God instructs the head of government, presumably required of everyone operating under delegated authority from the head of government:

“It (God’s Law) is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees … and turn from the law to the right or to the left.” (Deuteronomy 17:19- 20)

The more we look into the Law of God and into God’s face, the more we will recognize the temptations we may be subject to. Based upon the power of God available to us, we must actively take victory over those temptations as explained by the Apostle Paul:

“…for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” (Romans 8:13)

The source of the power for the victory in our lives is: “…by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body”. We cannot even achieve this victory ourselves. We need the power of God. We are to depend on the power of God’s Spirit to put to death the temptations we face. We must immerse ourselves into God’s Word so that we can clearly see when temptation is luring us. Then, we must invoke the power of that same loving Father to put to death our intent to give into that temptation. We must invoke that power each moment as Paul described elsewhere:

“I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:19-20)

We have been called by our Heavenly Father to be Statesmen. And we have been given the resources to succeed in that calling if we will faithfully use them. Let us not fail as Solomon did, or slip into a life without significance as Demas did, by carelessly walking away from all our Lord has for us. What Paul instructs the follower of Jesus Christ has all the more significance for the Statesman:

“Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.” (Colossians 3:2)

The Government decision-maker must set his or her mind on God and His principles. The lives of too many are at stake in the decisions we make to allow one’s mind to be distracted by anything less than the highest aspirations.

Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth!

The post Regression from Statesman to Politician appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

We have made the argument that the best way to ensure that we can operate as a Statesman is to allow ourselves to be an instrument in the hand of Almighty God. An essential part of being His instrument involves the capacity to receive His instructions.

This is where it becomes essential to know how to be listening for those instructions. We have a beautiful example of the Ethiopian Minister in the book of Acts:

“An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip (one of Jesus’ original disciples): “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” … So he got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a … high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to worship in Jerusalem and was sitting in his chariot on his way home, reading the prophet Isaiah aloud. The Spirit told Philip, “Go and join that chariot.” When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the Scripture passage he was reading was this:

He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so He does not open His mouth. In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who will describe His generation? For His life is taken from the earth.

The [official] replied to Philip, “I ask you, who is the prophet saying this about—himself or another person?” So Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning from that Scripture. As they were traveling down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s water! What would keep me from being baptized?” And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Then he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the [official] went down into the water, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer. But he went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:26-39).

We have valuable insight here into the way God works in the life of the official who is tender toward Him. Here we have the Minister of the Treasury or Finance, apparently highly trusted by the Head of Government. He was apparently very tender spiritually and prepared to hear from God. He put himself in a place where he could potentially hear from God. He had already traveled to Jerusalem to worship God. God often speaks when we are in a worship setting and worshiping our Lord. Worship can be, and must be, done privately. The more we can maintain an attitude of worship, the more God can speak to us.

Then, as he was traveling home, he placed himself in a further position to potentially hear from God by studying God’s instruction manual.

From historical evidence we recognize that God speaks to the leader. This is especially significant because of insight shared by Jesus as He taught His disciples:

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” (Luke 10:23-24).

From this, we must recognize that God attempts to work in the hearts of government decision-makers similar to the way He did with the Old Testament prophets. Hence, it seems imperative that leaders be prepared for God to speak to them and also to do everything they can to facilitate His doing this.

Elijah described God speaking; to him in “…a soft whisper” (1 Kings 19:12).

We have the example of God speaking to the prophet Samuel while still a young boy. After Samuel misunderstood God’s first two attempts to speak to Samuel, we have this record:

Now Samuel had not yet experienced the LORD, because the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. Once again, for the third time, the LORD called Samuel. He got up, went to Eli (his mentor), and said, “Here I am; you called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the boy. He told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If He calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The LORD came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for Your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:7-10).

One of the great ways to hear God’s voice is by praying to Him. He has challenged us:

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3).

He has promised us:

“You will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.” (Jeremiah 29:12).

Similarly, as we begin the practice of listening for God’s voice, it becomes clearer to recognize. President Lincoln had apparently recognized this as he expressed:

“I have had so many evidences of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will, that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above. I frequently see my way clear to a decision when I have no sufficient facts upon which to found it. … I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not to do a particular thing, He finds a way of letting me know it.”

As he expressed on another occasion, I believe Lincoln learned that the key is a commitment to obey that voice:

“If it is probable that God would reveal His will to others, on a point so connected to my duty, it might be supposed He would reveal it directly to me. … It is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is, I will do it!”

I am convinced that it was his commitment to obey that voice that opened the door to hearing it. This truth is elaborated in God’s Word:

“For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13).

In keeping with what we learn from Lincoln and from God’s servants, may we pray:

God I am eager for You to speak to me, and when You do, I will do it!

The post The Statesman Is Prepared to Hear God’s Voice appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.

We recently made the argument that our Lord has designed and set up His creation in such a way that those who operate within His creation need His instruction in order to be able to do so effectively. Of immediate interest to us is the application of this truth to the institution of Government.

God warns humanity, beginning with the decision-makers:

Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in darkness, and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, “He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”? (Isaiah 29:15-16)

and–

Woe to the rebellious children! This is the LORD’s declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine. (Isaiah 30:1)

We are warned that we cannot intuit or speculate on His plans when Almighty God Himself says:

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways.” This is the LORD’s declaration. “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Clearly, He expects us to be dependent upon Him for His wisdom and guidance. He makes clear that He will not abandon us to navigate His creation by ourselves. God makes the powerful promise to us:

I will instruct you and show you the way to go; with My eye on you, I will give counsel. (Psalm 32:8)

God speaks to us clearly if we will listen:

For God speaks time and again, but a person may not notice it. (Job 33:14)

By Myself I have sworn; Truth has gone from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: (Isaiah 45:23)

We must make sure that we listen. He speaks to us in a quiet voice directly as we listen for His voice. Jesus illustrated this as He used the analogy of Himself as the shepherd and us as His sheep:

My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:27)

The sheep are special in that they listen intently for His voice and when He speaks, they are able to hear it. Let us also remember that our ability to hear His voice is dependent upon our willingness to obey Him without reservation.

And He speaks to us through His Word. The psalmist, under God’s inspiration, reminds us several times in Psalm 119 alone:

How happy are those whose way is blameless, who live according to the LORD’s instruction! Happy are those who keep His decrees and seek Him with all their heart. (Psalm 119:1-2)

Open my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction. I am a stranger on earth; do not hide Your commands from me. (Psalm 119:18-19)

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Finally, we are admonished to remember to recognize our need for His wisdom and to ask Him for it:

Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)

Let us pause for a moment to reflect on the application to our lives and actions.

If we were to ask our Creator and Lord with every decision we make what He would have us to do, who would be operating through our life? Clearly, it would be our Master. This would allow us to say as President Lincoln said:

In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am.

and–

I hold myself in my present position and with the authority vested in me as an instrument of Providence.

Literally, we would be able to say with Lincoln that we are His instrument in His hands.

This is the insight that I am convinced produced a Statesman that we can all look to today.

PERSONALIZING: Is this a step we are willing to take?

The post The Statesman Recognizes the Need to Operate in Accord with the Instructions of the Creator-Designer – Part 2 appeared first on CENTRE FOR STATECRAFT.