When I began to describe the wisdom of George Washington, I thought first about the ways he took bold risks. (see my blog “The Wisdom of George Washington: Take Bold Risks”).

As I began to describe the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, I thought first about the ways he overcame setbacks.

The first setbacks that he overcame were the death of his mother and the poverty of his childhood. He also overcame his lack of a formal education, and even the lack of books on the frontier.

His early attempts at business ended in failure. Yet he persevered. He became a lawyer, prospering enough to live in a nice house with an accomplished wife who was well-connected.

He was elected to Congress. But he served only 1-term. His opposition to the War with Mexico was unpopular with voters, especially when the War ended with a stunning victory by the United States that ultimately led to the acquisition of California and the southwestern states of today’s United States.

Nevertheless, he overcame this political setback to become President of the United States.

How did he find the wisdom to overcome these setbacks?

He had a strong sense of Providence, anchored in the faith of his step-mother and in the Bible.

Above all, “the furor over slavery transformed the life of Abraham Lincoln. The moral passion that entered Lincoln’s heart turned him from a good speaker into a great orator, from a typical politician into a great statesman” (Visions of America, Visions of the Church, at 70).

As I wrote in Visions of America, at pages 73-75:

Fired up by the threat to America, Lincoln’s speeches became impassioned and inspiring. . . . .

The intellectual substance of his arguments was not new. . . . .

What was new was Lincoln’s “tone of moral outrage when he discussed ‘the monstrous injustice of slavery’” . . . .

Lincoln “quivered with feeling and emotion” and “his feelings once or twice swelled within and came near stifling utterance.” . . . .

Abraham Lincoln had found the passion to change from a typical politician into the greatest statesman of his generation. . . .

[Lincoln had hesitated to form a new political party. But eventually he decided to help form the Republican Party.]

In 1856, Lincoln attended the convention that organized the Republican Party in Illinois.

Now forty-seven years old, he bought his first pair of spectacles while waiting for the convention to begin. The unwitting symbolism was perfect. Because at this convention his stirring speech showed that he saw slavery’s evils and the hope of Americans better than anyone else.

As Lincoln’s law partner recalled later, “His speech was full of fire and energy and force; it was logic; it was pathos; it was enthusiasm; it was justice, truth and right set ablaze by a soul maddened by the wrong; it was hard, heavy, knotty, gnarly, backed with wrath.”

In this speech, Lincoln revealed the passion that would carry both himself and the Union through four bloody years of civil war. He pledged that he was ready to fuse [politically] with anyone who would unite with him to oppose slave power.” And if the South dared to raise “the bugbear [of] disunion” the answer should be that “the Union must be preserved in the purity of its principles as well as in the integrity of its territorial parts.”

The legendary orator and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Daniel Webster, said much the same thing during a Senate debate over the fate of the Union in 1830. Now, Lincoln quoted Daniel Webster’s eloquence to forge the motto of the newly-founded Republican Party: “Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.”

Where will you find the passion to transform your life? Your passion should come from the Spirit of the LORD—the Spirit that produces love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23).

As Jesus said near the start of his public ministry:

“The Spirit of the LORD is on me,

   because he has anointed me

   to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

   and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

   to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.”

(Luke 4:18-19).

As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be passionate about transforming lives so that we light the world by overcoming all setbacks to proclaiming good news to the poor—both the physically poor and the spiritually poor.

As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be passionate about transforming lives so that we light the world by overcoming all setbacks to proclaiming freedom for the prisoners—both the physical prisoners and the spiritual prisoners.

As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be passionate about transforming lives so that we light the world by overcoming all setbacks to recovering sight for the blind—both the physically blind and the spiritually blind.

As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be passionate about transforming lives so that we light the world by overcoming all setbacks to setting the oppressed free—both the physically oppressed and the spiritually oppressed.

As followers of the Way of Jesus, we should be passionate about transforming lives so that we light the world by overcoming all setbacks to declaring the favor of the LORD—both physical favor and spiritual favor.

Furthermore, as we were recently reminded by the assassination of Charlie Kirk, our passion to transform lives must never lead us into violence or to make excuses for violence.

As I say in the theme of my book Lighting the World:

You are the light of the world.

[L]et your light shine before [people],

     that they may see your good deeds

     and praise your Father in heaven.

“Not by might nor by power,

     but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty.

(Matthew 5:14,16; Zechariah 4:6).

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Do you want to light the world? Why? Why not? How? How not?

By might and power? By nationalism? By the Powers of Money, Religion and Kingdoms of this World? Why? Why not?

By good deeds? By the Spirit of the LORD? Why? Why not?

By the Powers of Peace and Compassion? By the Powers of Violence and Cruelty? Why? Why not?

READ MORE

For related thoughts, please read my blogs “The Art of the Vision”, “Blessed Are the Peacemakers”, “How Do We Build a Civilization That Is Good—That Is Very Good”, “Jesus Climbs the Temple Mount”, and “Alcatraz: Escaping by Using ‘Countervailing Powers’ Wisely.”