Daily Jewel

by Pastor Carnell, McAlester, OK

“No Negative Sound Bites Here”
“A good person's words are a fountain of life…” – Proverbs 10:11 (Good News Translation)

In the midst of this year’s presidential election, we are often confronted with a vast array of innuendos and sound bites that do little to present the candidates ideas, but more to injure their character. Instead of complaining about the negative tone of the campaign we might do well to celebrate and remember the life and accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States. He was elected into office in 1860 on the eve of a national crisis, the Civil War, and he was assassinated in office by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, five days after Robert E. Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House. Lincoln’s entire presidency was marked by conflict, war, resistance to the abolition of slavery, accusations that he was a tyrant because he proscribed civil liberties, and intense political upheaval between the Democratic and Republican parties. Looking back on his life and times, one could argue that Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 presidential election would change the racial future and political landscape of the United States. And the world.
Following Lincoln’s election to his second term, in 1864, with the war still raging, he prepared for his second Inaugural Address, which was delivered on March 4, 1865—a little more than a month before his assassination. In this brief address Lincoln clearly expressed his hopes for peace and reconstruction in the Nation. He began by reflecting on the issues at stake at the time of his first inauguration:
“When the (first) inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide the effects by negotiation. Both parties depreciated war. But one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive: and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came.”
Lincoln’s concluding paragraphs remain part of one of the most powerful proclamations of national solidarity and the survival of freedom ever spoken in the free world. Read these words and be inspired:
“Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Political pundits today are saying that this year’s national election will be the most significant election in our nation’s history. They are saying that change is needed in Washington. Candidates are saying that they alone will be ready to serve as the agent of change on “Day One” of a new administration. They are promising jobs…a balanced budget...in essence, promises that they cannot deliver.
But where are the voices echoing Lincoln’s pleas? Where are the potential leaders who are calling for us “to finish the work we are in…to bind up the nation’s wounds…to care for him who shall have borne the battle…and for his widow and his orphan…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations”? Where are those supposed leaders? Is there an Abraham Lincoln out there anywhere? Let him or her come forth! Let’s be willing to cross party lines, if necessary, and elect that one to be the next President of the United States of America!
We need someone whose words will be matched with their heart and actions. We need people who are willing to give more than they take. Those who love more than they hate. We need those who care about “life.” A good person’s words will reflect that!
Pastor J. T. Carnell