I was a little disturbed today when I read that Barak Obama, who was pretty upfront about his relationship with God during the campaign, announced that he hasn't attended church since the election. Instead, the Wunderkind is working on his figure at the gym Sunday mornings. It makes cynical little me wonder... was it all for show? Surely one wouldn't attend church every Sunday for months on end, in front of the TV cameras, just for the purposes of campainging, would one?
Mr. Obama claims he doesn't want to cause a distraction or disturbance at a church that wasn't prepared for him. And that's a good point. After all, the purpose of a church service is to worship The One True God, and anything that forces a distraction from that would not be good. I respect his decision to keep other worshippers in mind as he struggles with this question.
On the other hand, you can't believe his presence in churches didn't cause distractions during the campaign. And, he's not been afraid to attract a crowd at Sunday services before, see here and here. And it just seems pretty convenient to come up with an excuse to stop doing something that isn't really who you are.
Mr. Obama clearly thinks faith has an important place in politics... he said so himself. And Christian author/blogger Donald Miller claimed that his biggest reason for supporting Mr. Obama for president was his relationship with God.
Now, I don't pretend to know the real reason for Mr. Obama's about face. 2 Chronicles 6:30 says only God knows a man's heart. Therefore, I want to believe that Mr. Obama's reasoning is the whole truth. But, I hope the future president keeps this in mind... God is there in good times and in bad. I know people whose lives have gotten so bad, they try to shut God out thinking he's not going to help anyway. But, if we're not careful, we can shut Him out when life is good, too, thinking that we've got it all under control. I hope that doesn't happen to the future leader of the free world.
When president Obama is leading this country, I desperately desire for the lines of communication with his maker to be wide open. To that end, I beg him to find a church home for his family and fast.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with the president-elect's reasoning? What would you do?
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1 comment:
If the church really is important in his life he would have lead his family like a man is called to and found them a place to worship in DC and continue to go where he is at now.
I know myself if I had stopped going to church someone would have noticed, and I'm not even the President elect. But maybe he really hasn't attended a church on a regular basis in the first place.
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