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Tuesday Morning Epistles Welcome to "Tuesday Morning"—an encouraging read any season of the year, especially for people of faith.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher and poet, once said, “The true test of a civilization is not the census, nor the size of its cities, nor the crops—no, but the kind of (person) the country turns out.” And to Emerson's list we could add that a civilization's greatness is not measured by the size of its gross national product, its superior military strength, its cutting-edge technologies, its educational systems, its scholars, or its standard of living, ad infinitum. The true test of a civilization is found in the kind and quality of the persons it creates. But that just doesn't happen by chance or luck. It happens when a civilization decides that its values are sound, and when that civilization determines to make that the standard by which it is measured.
The following quote—although until recent years incorrectly attributed to French historian Alexis de Tocqueville—is both prophetic and powerfully true:
"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers - and it was not there ... in her fertile fields and boundless forests - and it was not there ... in her rich mines and her vast world commerce - and it was not there ... in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution - and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of America's genius and power. America is great because America is good. If America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."
The topic of this week's "Tuesday Morning" is "Godly Influence." Read on whenever you are ready. Then ask God to show you how you may use your godly influence to change (for the better) the world in which you live. This kind of change does not "trickle down," so to speak, but this kind of change "advances upward and forward." It begins with God's Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of people of faith. I want to be one of those people. How about you?
Tom Barnard A Senior Encourager ____________________________________________________________ Godly Influence Tom Barnard
esus said to his followers, “You are the light of the world…the salt of the earth.” He wasn’t making a commencement exercise address. He wasn’t speaking to seminary graduates. He wasn’t even talking to community leaders and people movers. There were no CEO’s in his audience. He was talking to ordinary folk. And it was three years before Pentecost! The times in which he spoke were not “the best of times.” They were anything but that. The economy? It wasn’t great. His homeland was owned and occupied by Romans. Israel was a captive state. But he said it: “You out there—you who are in earshot of me—you farmers and fishermen and ordinary people. You are what no other people before you were or are today. You—and you alone—are the salt of the earth!” What did he mean? What did salt and light mean to those in his audience? I can’t speak for them, but I can speak for us. Jesus intended that his followers be people of influence. People of change. Maybe even “movers and shakers.” Jesus expected his followers to change their world. When I think about influence, I think of the Amazon River. There is no river like it anywhere in the world. The Amazon is not only the largest river in the world by volume, but it is more than a thousand miles longer than the continental Unites States is wide! It touches six nations: Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, and Venezuela. According to one source, during the rainy season the depth of the river at some points is over a hundred feet! The estuary (its width at its mouth) is 207 miles! The Amazon is responsible for about one-fifth of the total volume of all fresh water flowing into the oceans of the world. One of the more interesting facts about this giant body of water is how far the Amazon influences the ocean waters beyond the coast line. The river flow of fresh water into the Atlantic is greater than the next top ten largest rivers flowing into the oceans combined! The salinity (salt content) of the ocean waters is affected (notably lower) more than a hundred miles out to sea. It’s like “the salt of the earth” reversed. Many years ago a Christian researcher traced nearly 750 descendants of Jonathan Edwards, one of New England’s greatest preachers and theologians of the Eighteenth Century. Of those descendants, 300 became preachers, 65 were college professors, 13 were university presidents, 60 authored books, 23 became United States Congressmen, and one became vice-president of the United States. Most of these outstanding persons were not directly influenced by Jonathan Edwards and his godly wife. But the Christian example left by that dedicated couple undoubtedly influenced a direction—a course of life—that their descendants saw and followed. Like circles created when we drop a rock in a pond, our sphere of influence—for good or evil—spreads in all directions, touching lives and nations, creating memories, and leading to the formation of values. I like to call these values “layers of influence.” One life touching another. One family touching another. One community touching another. One state touching another. One Nation Under God—touching other nations around the world. During a time of national upheaval, President Abraham Lincoln sent a message to Congress, to be read on December 1, 1862, in which he said, “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We … will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.” We are living in a year when changes will take place. Rather than think about change only in political ways, why don’t we dedicate ourselves to changing the value system of our nation—one family at a time? Like the Amazon, we may change the world—one person, one community, one nation at a time. |