A Lesson from President Obama

Most of the time I am completely silent (in print) about our country's leaders, because I am not a columnist, a commentator, nor a reporter. However, having watched Mr. Obama for these 2 years (which seem like a lifetime) and having read the myriad of 'pros' and 'cons' about his presidency, I have discovered one lesson which we would do well to understand.

Since he stepped onto the national stage of politics there have been many questions presented about him and few answers have been offered. While this is sad in and of itself, there is a specific 'chink' in his armor that continually rises to the forefront and should speak to every authentic believer in Jesus.

The question is this: WHAT DOES HE BELIEVE? Although this question is framed differently in the public press (I.E. Is he a muslin, is he a Christian, or is he an American, etc), the bottom line is that there exists great confusion over his religious beliefs.

The reason Americans question his beliefs is because people know that "We do what we believe and the rest is just talk." Read some of these thoughts as reported by "Yahoo News":

Nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released Thursday. The proportion who, correctly, say he is a Christian is down to just 34 percent. The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it. In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.

 

Now before I am accused of 'picking on the president' let me be clear about the lesson to find in this. It seems to me that, by and large, rank and file people in America could be confused about those who 'claim belief in Christ' because of the same reasons for the suspicions of Mr. Obama.

Maybe this would be a good time for us to demonstrate our faith by 'living out the beliefs which we say we have.' Jesus' is call is always to follow Him and following Him means 'self-denial', 'selfless giving', and 'deferring to the Father'. This is a difficult lesson for Americans who have come to think that 'it's all about me.'