1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.
2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4 And where I go you know, and the way you know."
We have the promise of heaven, and we know the way to get there - through believing upon Jesus and making Him the Lord of our lives. And, if we are confident that we are going there, we can live our lives in the light of eternity. Our lives here matter, for sure, but we can recognize that we are not citizens of this world, but of another world, placed here for a specific purpose, to glorify God, to make Jesus known, and to shine His light.
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God is calling us to hold fast, to continue to walk in His principles, until the time that He removes us
from this earth. 1st Timothy 1 says:
12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
Today, I want to highlight someone who has experienced the challenges of being the most powerful political leader in the world, yet faces a personal health battle. I don't completely agree with his politics and policies, but he is someone who has attempted to integrate his Christianity into his leadership.
He turned 91 years old last week, and just a few weeks ago, he faced the news of a cancer diagnosis.
I am talking about the former peanut farmer from Georgia, Jimmy Carter.
Christian Today reported on Carter's announcement that he would be starting radiation therapy for cancer on his brain, adding that his fate was "in the hands of God" barely a week after announcing he had undergone surgery for liver cancer.
Carter was said to have appeared calm and lucid, and told a news conference that he will cut back dramatically on his schedule to receive treatment every three weeks after doctors detected four "very small spots" of melanoma on his brain.
According to the article, after receiving the brain cancer diagnosis, Carter said, "I thought I had just a few weeks left," but he added that he remained "hopeful" and did not currently feel any weakness or disability.
One part of his schedule that he has continued to keep is teaching Sunday School at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains. Another Christian Today piece says that the Sunday following the cancer diagnosis, larger than normal crowds attended the class, which was repeated later at a local school.
The theme of the lesson was love. He said, "We are studying the most important aspect of Christianity," and he read from the Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew: "I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
He mentioned his conflict resolution work, including the Camp David peace agreement and negotiating a nuclear program with North Korea, and said mediation can help resolve any conflict, be it between two countries or two people.
He mentioned his conflict resolution work, including the Camp David peace agreement and negotiating a nuclear program with North Korea, and said mediation can help resolve any conflict, be it between two countries or two people.
I went back to a summary of an interview with Mr. Carter conducted back in 2012 by Chuck Colson and John Stonestreet for Breakpoint This Week. Carter had used Colson's conversion story in a Sunday School lesson, and the two had worked together on Habitat for Humanity projects. In the conversation, they explored the concept of proclaiming Christ in all seasons not only through His teaching, but through following His example of service.
Carter announced at his church that he would be making a trip to Nepal in November to work on a Habitat project, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In the Breakpoint This Week interview, Colson said to Carter, "You lived out your faith as president while you were in office...and one of the things I admire most was your stand on human rights."
The summary is an interesting read. Carter obviously has advocated positions that place him at odds with other Christians, but there are aspects of his overall body of work and his attempt to integrate his faith into policy matters which are admirable.
So, as he faces the twilight of his life and the overwhelming burden of a cancer diagnosis, Jimmy Carter can provide some encouragement in the face of challenges. The AJC.com website reports on a recent speech to a group of college freshmen at Emory University, in which Carter is quoted as saying, “All of us have to face the prospect, at the end of our life, of death,” adding, “When I reach adversity, I turn to prayer.”
So, our first take away for today is that no matter what your age, we have to face the matter of death and your eternal destination. And, we can know where we will be going after we depart this life. The Bible teaches that through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we can enjoy the promise of eternity with God in heaven.
Another concept is the promise of peace in adversity. Jimmy Carter's health concerns are in the hands of God - and I will say that is where He wants us to place all of our cares. We're told to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. So, when we receive bad news, when we face health scares, or experience loss, we know there is One Who cares, who can bring comfort in our difficulties.
And, I think it's admirable that this man is continuing to stay active. He was doing that even before the cancer diagnosis, and he's not allowing that to grind his activities to a complete halt. I think that God will use us until He takes us home, and we have to be careful not to develop a sedentary life, but a service-oriented life, looking for opportunities to receive the blessings of being used by the Lord and involved in His work.
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