Carter - Through the year with Jimmy Carter: 366 daily meditations from the 39th president

Many centuries ago a wise author warned, Of making many books there is no end (Ecclesiastes 12:12). While Im not sure how many books he wrote, Im pretty sure that, unless Ive lost count, Through the Year with Jimmy Carter is my twenty-sixth. Thats a lot of books!

But this one is special.

For one thing, its a devotional. I hope it encourages you to grow deeper in your Christian faith and to experience more of what Christ has for you, regardless of where you might be on lifes journey. Im just a few months shy of my eighty-seventh birthday, and I have to admit that the Lord has brought me on a very different kind of journey than the one I thought was beginning on a farm near Plains, Georgia, during the Great Depression. None of us can know where our journeys with God will take us even tomorrow let alone a decade from now so its a good idea to spend a few moments each day to connect with God and ask, Well, where do you want to take me today?

The Bible tells us that a man named Enoch walked faithfully with God for three hundred years, until one day God simply took him away (Genesis 5:24). Its nice to assume that the pair got to know each other so well that when one walk went a little long one evening, God said, Hey, its late. Why dont you just come over to my place? Daily walks are good for creating that kind of close friendship, and I hope that this devotional might help you to draw nearer to God in a similar way.

Each page is based on a different Sunday school lesson Ive taught, either while president or at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains. The earliest entry comes from a class in 1977, and the most recent from one in June 2011 (the dates are noted at the top of each page). Sometimes the entries mention historic events, such as the Camp David Accords of 1978; at other times I refer to some personal incident from my boyhood or family life; and in still other entries I simply focus on a Bible verse or passage and try to suggest how it might apply to our lives today. But in every case my goal is to interact faithfully with the wisdom in Gods Word in order to encourage and promote fresh thinking that moves both our hearts and minds closer to the Savior.

Since the book covers a lot of historical, biblical, and personal territory, Ive divided it into four sections. In the first, Launching, well take a look at some of the foundations of our Christian faith, because we need to have a solid grasp of the essentials if we want to launch successfully into the great adventure God has waiting for us. In the second, Growing, well consider how to build on the foundation to grow into the kind of Christians who both enjoy life and bless others. In the third, Serving, well explore how the Spirit of Christ inevitably draws us into a life of service, not to constrict our lives, but to expand and liberate our hearts and enlarge the kingdom of God. In the fourth, Maturing, well ponder the radical influence for good that mature followers of Christ can have on our families, friends, neighborhoods, and world for the glory of God and the benefit of the people God has made.

If there is one theme that keeps reappearing in these devotions, its that God calls us to live out our faith. I dont know what that might mean to you, but I do know that Jesus asks us to listen to his words and then to act on them. Rosalynn and I read the Bible together every night. I teach Sunday school, write books about my religious faith, listen to sermons, debate with theologians, and teach classes in the Departments of Theology and Religion at Emory University. I would put all those things under the category of hearing. They are just words spoken words, written words, words listened to and, perhaps, nothing else.

It is good if we hear Jesus words, but we must not take pride and become complacent in that achievement. We must also live by his words, which may mean taking a hard look at ourselves and asking, What keeps me from being a devoted doer of his words?

We can do so every day, as we follow a path to peace, harmony, gratification, and real success in the eyes of God.