Inaugural Address

Choose this day whom you will serve...

I was proud to hear our new president make a few references to scripture today in his inaugural address. I was happy to hear from him that our ability to carry freedom to future generations requires God’s grace upon us, but I was disappointed to hear him attribute to God promises God has not made.

President Obama’s intent was to lay a foundation of principles upon which we can base hope and from which we can spring in to action as Americans. He stated that we enjoy God’s promises that we are all are equal, we are all free and we all deserve a chance to pursue our full measure of happiness.  I guess one out of three ain’t bad.

God does promise that we are all equal. We are all equally guilty apart from Christ and all who embrace Christ are all equally forgiven. But God makes it abundantly clear that we are not free and that our happiness is not His main concern.

We’re not free. We are slaves (Romans 6). We are all born slaves to sin (Romans 6:6). When we give our lives to Christ we are free from sin, but we become slaves to righteousness Romans 6:18. Nobody, not even the most devout anarchist is actually free. We all serve somebody or some thing (ideologies, passions, religions, desires, etc.).  Slavery to anything other than Christ leads to death. Making one’s self a slave to Christ brings life, hope, forgiveness, and joy. Our Lord is kind, benevolent, patient, merciful, and loving. It is an honor and privilege to serve Him.

It is also true that God doesn’t promise us any measure of happiness. He is good and, therefore, allows us considerable happiness, but happiness is temporal and situational. Happiness can result from satisfying a sinful desire. Happiness is a feeling and it is fleeting. Happiness doesn’t have the grit to see us through tough times. Happiness is Satan’s playground. He gets us all chasing it and lusting after it and, when we don’t get it or it disappears like a vapor, we blame God. What God promises His followers is endurance, abiding joy, and peace that passes all understanding. These fruits of the Holy Spirit transcend emotions (Galatians 5:22-23). They are bedrock benefits of genuine faith in Christ.

Let’s base our hope and our future actions upon the solid bedrock of Jesus Christ and God’s true promises, which are all fulfilled through Him. That will make us not only good Americans, but also faithful subjects of God the King.