A Call To Destiny

I recorded an old black and white movie about Abraham Lincoln over the weekend from the TCM channel.  While the film which was produced in 1940 was a little slow (okay… real slow!) according to modern standards, it did display a fairly accurate and touching portrait of the life of our 16^th president from his teen years up until his presidency.

It was very easy to see that this was a man that was called to fulfill a God given destiny.  Here we have an individual that had no formal education and was considered by many to be an ignorant country bumpkin.  Throughout most of his life he had no real ambitions and simply sought to be true to his word and at peace with all.  Later in life he came to the understanding, to his own chagrin that he had to face the truth and follow the higher calling set before him.

When he accepted the nomination as the president of the United States, he did so fully realizing that our great Union was about to fall apart.  The rest of his story is history as he stood against the astounding forces against him (from both within and without of his government), took extraordinary measures, wisely yielded extreme presidential powers never before invoked by any previous leader, stood the test and solidified our country’s union as one nation under God.  In fact it is said that before the civil our country was indiscriminately spoken of as either “the United States” or “these United States.”  The Civil War was a significant force in the eventual dominance of the singular usage by the end of the 19th century." *  I have often wondered how the civil rights movement may have differed had Mr. Lincoln lived to see his reconstruction measures put in place following the devastating war.

Abraham Lincoln’s life story is really no different than that of yours and mine, excepting that he finally yielded to the calling on his life.  Have you sought out and yielded to the God-given plan that He has made for you to live?  From all the research that I have done on the man that is considered to be one of the top three presidents of our country, I cannot find definitive information to confirm if he was a Christian or not.  He definitely believed in God and the Golden rule, but did he ever make a personal declaration of his faith?  We may never know... at least until we get to heaven that is!

What I do know though, is that as Christians we have a far better chance at fully completing the destiny that we are called to.  2 Timothy 3:17 unequivocally states that God’s holy scriptures “equip God’s servants so that they are COMPLETELY prepared to do good things.”  Think about that.  God not only has called us to meet a specific destiny, but has also given us the tools to successfully complete our life’s mission!

Kind of makes you want to jump into to His instruction booklet and find out some answers doesn’t it?  Well, I would whole heartedly encourage you to indulge in that feast.  As we celebrate and honor the birth of Abraham Lincoln as well as that of all of our Presidents during the next few weeks, make plans to regularly sit at the banquet table of His word and feast on the delicacies that He has painstakingly prepared in order to ensure your success!

Stay tuned and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”

* Presidential Proclamation-Civil War Sesquicentennial”.  The White House.  April 12, 2011.  Archived from the original on October 20, 2011.  “a new meaning was conferred on our country’s name…”