Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia, was laid to rest after a moving funeral service that featured the presence of five presidents. Carter, the 39th U.S. president, will be remembered for his service to our nation as a Naval officer, governor, diplomat who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (2002), and Habitat for Humanity volunteer. One theme that thread through the acknowledgements of the life and times and servant-leadership God-work of the late president—character:
“Jimmy Carter’s friendship taught me — and through his life, taught me — strength of character is more than title or the power we hold,” President Joe Biden said.
I think other quotes on God’s work deserve equal consideration like that of Missionary James Hudson Taylor:
“God’s work is not man working for God; it is God’s own work, though often wrought through man’s hands.” Hudson Taylor
Through Taylor’s life and hands—51 years enduring arrests, insults, slander and poverty—the “finished work of Christ” was spread throughout China. Compared to the work of Christ on the cross, Taylor said he did not consider his work a sacrifice.
Any word on God’s work should include God’s Son:
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:34
So essential was finishing the work that God purposed Christ. Jesus liken His work to food, vital to His life and mission: to die so others may live. And what was that finished work that sustained the Son of God and drove men like Hudson Taylor?
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. John 10:10
No word about God’s work (and the job requirements that comes with it) would be complete without hearing from God himself—Micah 6:8—a scripture used in the eulogy of President Carter.
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
Requirement #1: Justice. Mishpat is the word. That which is right in how we must treat others is a requisite to being a just child, church, community or country. Feeding hungry, homeless children is the right thing to do. Moral code, not zip code, is the determinate of justice. Any abettor to its impediment is an accessory to a crime.
Justice is possible. The Ministry City Church in Del Rio provided more than 2,000 sandwiches in four days for migrants at the requests of U.S. border patrol who rode horses up on children.
Requirement #2: Mercy. Chesed (lovingkindness) is the word. It is more than being loving or being kind. It is an amalgam of the virtues that goes above being either of those two virtues alone. Driven by an unwavering vision of peace and human rights, Jimmy and Rosalynn
Carter founded The Carter Center in 1982 and worked for decades to empower and improve the lives of the world's poorest and most forgotten people. That is Chesed.
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Requirement #3: Humility. The word is Tsana. It’s one thing to submit oneself to another with a hint of pride and self-recognition. But to submit totally to God without stealing a little credit for yourself is more powerful. To walk humbly is to make submission to God a lifestyle rather than an infrequent, strategic service event for personal gain is another. Doing what God asks you to do—without special acknowledgment—brings with it, its own recognition and blessing when God gets the glory. Ask the widow with two mites. Her way of giving (giving all without “all that”) was noted by Christ in His last teaching opportunity with his disciples (Mark 12:41). The anonymous woman is immortalized as the way to live and give.
As you consider doing “God’s good work”, think on Micah 6:8 and the actions of the widow and her mites, and the God-work of President Jimmy Carter. Some “two-cents” are mightier than the divisive works of men with powerful titles. Character still matters.
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