For my birthday, my sister gave me the book Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow, which was the motivation for the Broadway musical by the same name.  Although it was heavy reading (three pounds in paperback?), I enjoyed it so much that I read another book about the early years of the United States, Founding Brothers: the Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.  I was  impressed by what I learned about our founders (Adams, Burr, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Washington and others) and their contributions.  I had always thought of them as strong leaders and knew that many were excellent and inspiring writers, but I didn’t realize the full strength of their knowledge and intellects, and how much their abilities to apply their ideas contributed to their successes.  They were well read, and followed most of the advances of the age. 

In addition to being grateful, I also was slightly chagrined by what I learned about these great men as individuals.  All were flawed!  They could be petty, bitter and vindictive, and they sometimes made libelous statements.  Some had personal lives that would be scandalous even in the present days, and they had other moral failings.  They were hypocritical; for example, all of the Virginians in the list above made public statements against slavery, but only Washington supported any actions against it (in his will Washington provided for the freeing of his slaves after the death of his wife Martha).  A few of them were not religious (or even anti-religious), some were Deists, and most of the rest treated religion in a pro-forma manner.  They let pride get in the way of common sense.  Recall that Burr and Hamilton fought a duel in which Hamilton was killed; both allowed their pride from keeping them from finding a peaceful solution to their differences. 

This brought to mind the same is true in the Bible.  Men such as David, John, Moses, Paul, Peter, Solomon, Thomas, and others were all flawed!  This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be grateful; after all, God chose to work through them, and we should have faith that God can help us emulate their positive actions.  On the other hand we should take their failings as warnings.  Paul makes this point in Chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, when he uses the history of Israel as a warning: “Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.”  Let us learn from the good examples and take warning from the bad.

Jim

If our heavenly Father was able to use the founders of our country to good effect and build his kingdom on the backs of the flawed Biblical leaders, then surely he can make use of you and me. Are we flawed? For sure. Can He use us for His purposes? Once again, for sure. Don’t be afraid to answer His call, to step up to the plate even when we’re asked to take unfamiliar steps. God in his unconditional love has a purpose for you and for me.

Adapted from Jim’s blog of September 2016