A few weeks ago (January 20th) was 50 years since USA president, John F. Kennedy gave, what some say, was the greatest inaugural address of all time.
Do you remember what he said? How about some of it? Maybe you are too young to have heard it live but most people have heard it and even some of His sentences still ring in our ears today.
Sentences like “…a new world of law -- where the strong are just, and the weak secure, and the peace preserved.” Or “Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.” But the most famous words are “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Great words! Words that stirred a nation and still move people deeply 50 years after they were spoken. Words can do that. People who have the gift of putting words together can start a fire in a man soul that will never go out!
Think of how Martin Luther King, Jr grabbed the attention of the world with the words “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
President Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg address said "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
England Prime Minister Winston Churchill said in His first speech to the House of Commons “I hope that any of my friends and colleagues, or former colleagues, who are affected by the political reconstruction, will make allowance, all allowance, for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
Yet none of their words, as amazing as they were, compare to the words of Jesus Christ. Words like “for God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son” and “Yes I am with you always, until the very end of time.” Jesus also said “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” How about these words that have often crossed my mind, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?”
These words of Jesus, and many others, though spoken over 2000 years ago still, to this day, have changed more lives, comforted more people and given more courage than any other words ever spoken. Surely these must be more than the words of a mere man? I think they are! I believe Jesus was much more than just a man who had a gift of putting words together. I believe that he was who he claimed to be… God Almighty!
Let me ask you, have you ever read His words? If yes, how about lately? If not why not commit yourself to reading the words Jesus said more often in this year. You, like so many other people in the past and to this day, may find your life completely changed as you do. His words can do that! They have changed my life and still deeply affect me. I pray that you will read them and read them often and that they will speak and challenge you as much as they have for so many others for so many years!
