The Price and Promises of the Presidency

Candidates, political parties, and supporters spend millions of dollars in campaigning for the office of the presidency of the United States. For the one who wins the job, there is also a tremendous physical and emotional price, resulting from the vigorous schedule and incredible pressures and responsibilities.

Despite the financial and physical price the office exacts, there is no shortage of people willing to campaign for the job. Each new candidate brings a list of plans and promises, intending to bring about incredible progress. But when the president takes office, do these promises necessarily come to pass? Generally, a substantial percentage of them do not. Even the most honest candidate with the best intentions cannot keep all of his promises--the problems faced are simply too complex, and the resources available are simply not adequate to solve every problem.

This is why one person after another is voted into power with great expectations of progress and peace only to find that conditions don't improve at all, but instead wax worse and worse. The social and moral fabric of the country continues to melt down in sin and violence while wars, crime, and corruption pervade the world. This is because people are seeking to deal with the fruit of the world's problems, rather than recognizing and dealing with the root of them--sin.

There is One who knows this and has provided the solution. The price that He paid to do this could never be exceeded, and cannot even be calculated. The Lord Jesus Christ paid this price when He came into the world some 2000 years ago. He labored tirelessly in devoted ministry to all mankind--preaching the Word, healing the sick, and even raising the dead. He proved He was the Son of God who had all love and all power and all wisdom to solve man's problems, showing Himself qualified to meet man's deepest and most basic need--his enslavement to sin and Satan.
For this, the supreme price had to be paid, "We are not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold ... But with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18,19). The Lord Jesus knew full well the price He must pay, for He had come "to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). He willingly died for sinners and paid the price their sins demanded by the sacrifice of Himself and the shedding of His blood on the Cross of Calvary.

God has shown His acceptance of that tremendous sacrifice by raising Him from among the dead and exalting Him to His throne in Heaven--crowning Him with glory and honor. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords!

He too has made promises, and will never fail in keeping every one of them. This is because His promises are made with all the intent that divine love could ever conceive, and with the accompanying power of Almighty God to fulfill every one of them. He has made these promises in His written Word, the Bible. They are set forth clearly for all men everywhere to believe. A few of them are as follows:

THE PROMISE OF LIFE: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

THE PROMISE OF PEACE: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" (John 14:27).

THE PROMISE OF SECURITY: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand" (John 10:27,28).

The Lord Jesus Christ has paid the price for your redemption. Hear and believe His Word, and thus receive the promises He waits to give you when you by faith receive Him as your personal Saviour, Lord, and President of your life. Change your mind and heart about Him and acknowledge your desperate need of Him in the confession of your sin. You'll never be disappointed by your choice!

--Don Johnson

Posted with permission of Moments with the Book