Devotional Guide For the week of May 4, 2008
HARRY TRUMAN AND GOSPEL TRUTH
Receiving with thanksgiving
To read the Bible in one year, today read Psalms 96-98
To Know:
³O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures
for ever. O give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures
forever. O give thanks to the LORD of Lords, for his steadfast love
endures
forever.² (Ps. 136:1-3)
Harry S. Truman is famed for saying, ³The buck stops here.² Truman was not
one to duck responsibility. He dropped the atom bomb and fired General
Douglas MacArthur for disobeying an order by the Commander in Chief. When
Truman was vice-president, the man who had promoted his candidacy for the
Senate died. Boss Pendergast had been tried and convicted of a crime and
was
released only in order to die on the outside. Truman, against the advice
of
his political advisors attended the funeral and drew severe criticism
because Pendergast was a convicted felon. Truman attended the funeral to
express his gratitude for the help the man gave in his early political
career. ³Ingratitude,² said Truman, ³is a cardinal sin.²
Gratitude is the proper motive for Christian living. The communion service
is a Eucharist, which is translated ³thanksgiving.² The bread and cup that
we share at Communion are to be received with thanksgiving, which is meant
to be our motive for everyday living. Paul wrote to warn his young
colleague
Timothy that some would depart from the faith and forbid Christians to
enjoy
the good things ³which God created to be received with thanksgiving by
those
who believe and know the truth.² (1 Tim. 4:3)
To Do:
Paul indicts our fallen human race when he says of sinners, ³Ever since
the
creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and
deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So
they
are without excuse; for although they knew God they did not honor him as
God
or give thanks to him.² (Rm. 1:20,21) Ingratitude is indeed the cardinal
sin. The guilt of the human race is manifest by the ingratitude of men and
women who receive life and breath and all things solely because of the
goodness and grace of God.
05058$-05058
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