A PRESIDENT WITH A PURE HEART?

With another presidential election on the horizon, what kind of president can you imagine hoping and praying be elected?  What kind of Congress or Judiciary of the Supreme Court might we desire?  Why do we seem to set the bar so low in our prayers for national leadership at the top?

Who wouldn’t want a president with a pure heart, a congress after the likeness of Christ, a judicial system guided the Holy Spirit in their interpretation of the Constitution, and a voting public that remembered that those who comprise positions of public office in their responsibility are still human and inclined to imperfection.  They need our prayers for spiritual maturity, purity of heart, and commitment to Kingdom priorities.

Let’s just take the first question about electing a president.  What would it mean to have a president with purity of heart?  William Booth, in his little book entitled Purity of Heart  (1902, pp. 11&12), generically gives us some answers we might remember when it comes to the U.S. presidency:

                  

     Purity of heart takes place when God acts on a              desire to have one’s heart cleansed from all sin              and made pure so that God will enter and dwell in        one’s soul.

     Although he or she may have a pure heart, they will      have to fight temptation.

     A pure heart is not a heart that cannot suffer                  heaviness.

     By a pure heart it is not meant a heart that cannot          sin.

     By a pure heart it is not meant any experience of          purity cannot increase in enjoyment, usefulness,            and power.

William Booth goes on to say some helpful things.  To paraphrase him, if the president were to pull the weeds out of his garden, the flowers and plants and trees would grow faster, flourish more abundantly, and become more fruitful.  Just so, in the president’s pursuit of a pure heart, Jesus Christ can purge the garden of his or her soul of envy and pride, and remove the poisonous plants of malice, selfishness, deceit and every other thing.  Then faith, peace, hope, love, humility, and courage, and all the other beautiful flowers in the garden of one’s soul would flourish in more charming beauty and more abundant fruitfulness. 

What would it mean to have a president with a pure heart in the oval office.  Would not the impact of such a pure heart of a president be radically transformational? His/her relationships with Congress and the judiciary would reflect his relationship with God.  His foreign policy would reflect his being wise as a serpent and yet compassionate where possible, firm but seeking understanding. He or she would be  a velvet covered brick.  Imagine the consequences for the nation and the world.  Unimaginable! (See Eph. 3:20)

Pray now for a future president whose heart is fully given over to God and who prays for the cleansing work of God now before seeking the highest office of the land.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  
Psalm 51:10