We need a generation of first-rate thinkers, but we also need a generation in which every Christian sees himself or herself as a scholar.

Not, mind you, as an academic, but as one who takes seriously Paul’s charge to “watch your life and doctrine carefully; persevere in them because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim. 3:16).

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The consequences of ignorance are many and severe: Our witness suffers greatly from Christians who speak up without having really thought through what they’re saying. Without a developed mind, we are easily led astray by foolish beliefs that the church dismissed as heresy centuries ago.

It saddens me that Christians today aren not generally considered to be among the leading minds of our time. And, honestly, we probably don’t deserve to be.

It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.

Written by James Madison in in 1785 in his “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments.”

It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors.

Said by George Washington in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3rd, 1789.

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.

Written by Thomas Jefferson in his “Notes on the State of Virginia,” Query 18, in 1781.

Via PatriotPost.US

Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!

May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!

Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!

- Psalm 72:1-4

But much of the psalm is similar to the prophetic verses about Christ elsewhere in the Bible. For example, the idea of all nations bowing in submission:

May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!

- Psalm 72:11

For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’”

- Romans 14:9-11

Or the promise of all nations being blessed:

May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun!

May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!

- Psalm 72:17

I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

- Genesis 12:3

It gives an interesting perspective on the term “Son of David” used in reference to Jesus. He was David’s descendant by birth, but beyond that He was, in a sense, David’s “perfect son,” fulfilling the promise of bringing peace, righteous judgement, and blessing to the world that Solomon could fulfill only partially and imperfectly.

and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.

So even to old age and gray hairs,

O God, do not forsake me,

until I proclaim your might to another generation,

your power to all those to come.

Your righteousness, O God,

reaches the high heavens.

You who have done great things,

O God, who is like you?

- Psalm 71:17-19