‘I set before you today life and prosperity.’ Deuteronomy 30:15
God told
His people: ‘See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and
destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his
ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and
increase, and the LORD your God will bless you’ (vv. 15-16 NIV 1984 Edition).
One person with the love of God in their heart can start a chain reaction. John
Wilkes Booth shocked the world by assassinating President Abraham Lincoln. At
the time, Booth’s brother Edwin was considered one of the greatest actors in America .
Believing the family name had been shamed forever, he retired from acting and
went into seclusion. But his legacy turned out not to be one of death and
disappointment, but of life and influence. A few years before Lincoln ’s
assassination, Edwin was at a train station in Jersey City , New Jersey .
He was standing nearby when a young man lost his footing on the platform and
almost fell into the path of a moving train. Without hesitation, Edwin rescued
the young man by reaching down and pulling him up by his collar. There was a
brief exchange of gratitude, but Edwin never dreamed how significant that
moment would become. Some years later he received a letter from then President
Ulysses Grant thanking him for his heroic deed. Why? Because the young man he
had saved was Robert Todd Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln. Edwin Booth took
that letter to his grave; a reminder that we may not be able to change our past
but we can certainly change our future. And by God’s grace you can change yours
too!
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