Quick! What name is most often associated with the Great Depression? When it comes to blame for the Great Depression, I would say it is the name of Herbert Hoover. After all, even one of the great Broadway musicals of all time, ANNIE, has a song that is derisive of the ex-president.
(In case you are fuzzy on your U.S. history, Herbert Hoover became president in 1929 at the supposed height of US economic strength. In October of that same year, the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.)
One of the reasons Herbert Hoover was elected president was because he was known as one of the great humanitarians in world history. It was Herbert Hoover, who led the organized effort to feed the orphans in Europe after World War I. There, he practically achieved the status of sainthood. How many of us remember this fact?
It seems patently unfair that Herbert Hoover, if he is remembered at all, is remembered as a terrible president because of the Great Depression. But guess what? That's life.
It was patently unfair that the Son of God, the only perfect man who ever lived, was executed by the most painful means devised by Man in the course of human history—crucifixion. Yet, the Heavenly Father was able to use Jesus’ life in a pretty effective way.
From our perspective, the problem is that fairness and reputation were not of supreme importance to God, when it came it came to the life of Christ. It may not be the priority, when it comes to us either.
I want to die with a good reputation. I want to be remembered for only good things. Yet, what if God can use my life in an even greater way were I to surrender all, including a legacy of competence and dignity?
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