We crave the limelight.
Teddy Roosevelt was a tireless president. He battled big corporations, worked ceaselessly to conserve natural resources, and instituted new levels of consumer protection into place.
Teddy was (and is) also the youngest president to serve in that vaulted office, stepping up after President McKinley was assassinated in 1901. Teddy received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, the first American to do so. His crowning glory, in his own eyes, was his part in bringing the Panama Canal from dream into reality.
Teddy loved the limelight, the recognition, and the acclaim that went with being the most influential man on earth. He loved it so much, that after he left office, he couldn’t leave it behind. He campaigned tirelessly for America when WWI broke out, even offering to organize a volunteer division.
The War Department turned him down.
We sometimes feel that way in the church. We have so many good ideas for Christ. If the pastor would just listen to us, how much better the services would run! How much finer our Sunday schools would be! Attendance would be up, and so would the offerings. Why don’t people listen?
Being set apart for Christ can be more than we bargain for sometimes. Read in Acts 13:2:
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul (a.k.a. Paul) for the work to which I have called them.’ ”
Did these men receive glory? Were their ideas readily accepted in the ancient church? Hardly. Christian tradition holds that Barnabas was martyred at Salamis, Cyprus, in AD 61. Paul was imprisoned and likely beheaded by the Romans, under Nero, in AD 68.
Still want the limelight? Look at what happened to Teddy Roosevelt. His youngest son, Quentin, was shot down and killed over Germany, stifling much of Roosevelt’s enthusiasm for the war. Soon after, he became publically despondent for the first time in his career. Sorrow took him at the young age of 60. Only in retrospect do we see what he failed to comprehend. He was one of our greatest presidents and admired by people all across our great land.
Barnabas and Paul are revered today. Barnabas is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Orthodox Church, and his feast day is June 11. Paul is the greatest contributor to the New Testament, and his words are referenced weekly in services across the world.
Being set apart for Christ can be a tough life to live. Our reward and honor will be found when he welcomes us home.
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