Why TR Went to Church

Why TR Went to Church

Teddy Roosevelt was born in New York.  He was able to overcome debilitating asthma from childhood to become a strong leader of men.  He became a New York State legislator who after a stint with the “Rough Riders” went on to become Governor of the State of New York.  Looking at his life, we would say he was a very busy man who also endured much heartache.  His first wife died young after only 4 years of marriage.  He was persistent in spite of the troubles he faced and actually became president of the United States at the young age of 42.  You may know him in history as “TR.”  What you may not have known about him was his love for God and for the local church.

The Bible speaks to the importance of church attendance in Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Consistently being in church services is a good practice that includes many intangible benefits.

In the business of our lives, sickness, distress, and trouble, it is easy to allow evil to overcome us and to allow for excuses as to why we do not worship the Lord in public services or fellowship with God’s people.  However this verse is clear – we need to be closer to the Lord and other Christians as we “see the day approaching.”

Don’t allow circumstances to squeeze Christian living from your daily life.  Romans says, 12:21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Recently I came across and article “Why Teddy Roosevelt Goes To Church” in an illustration file.  I thought that you would find it interesting today…

“Teddy Roosevelt offered his reasons for going to church in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1917.

1. In this actual world a churchless community, where men have abandoned and scoffed at their religious needs, is a community on the rapid downgrade.
2. Church work and church attendance some responsibility for others and the sense of moral strength which prevents a relaxation of one’s own moral fiber.
3. There are enough holidays for most of us to be devoted to pure holiday making….Sundays differ from other holidays in that there are fifty-two of them every year….On Sunday, go to church.
4. Yes, I know all the excuses. I know that one can worship the Creator and dedicate oneself to good living in a grove of trees, or by running brook, or in one’s own house, just as well as in church.

But I also know as a matter of cold fact the average man does not thus worship or thus dedicate himself. If he stays away from the church he does not spend his time in good works or in lofty meditation. He looks over the colored supplement of the newspaper.

5. He may not hear a good sermon at church. But unless he is very unfortunate he will hear a sermon by a good member who, with his good wife, is engaged all the week long in a series of tasks for making hard lives a little easier.
6. He will listen to and take part in reading some beautiful passages from the Bible. And if he is not familiar with the Bible, he has suffered a loss….
7. He will probably take part in singing some good hymns.
8. He will meet and nod to, or speak to, good, quiet neighbors….He will come away feeling a little more charitably toward all the world, even toward those excessively foolish young men who regard church-going as rather a soft performance.
9. I advocate a man’s joining in church works for the sake of showing his faith by his works.
10. The man who does not in some way, active or not, connect himself with some active, working church misses many opportunities for helping his neighbors, and therefore, incidentally, for helping himself.”
    

    (Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations: Signs of the Times.)

Be encouraged to attend a Bible preaching and teaching church this Sunday.  It has the potential to change your life, family, and community.  More importantly, when attending a Bible believing church you will hear about the Lord, His Gospel, and discover how to know God through the Lord Jesus Christ.