WEDNESDAY February 12, 2025

Lincoln’s Birthday

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Joshua 1:8

Today is President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The earliest observance on record happened in Buffalo, New York, in either 1873 or 1874. A man named Julius Francis made it his mission in life to honor the assassinated President. He set about to petition Congress to make the day a legal holiday.

Although Congress did not make it legal to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday as a federal holiday, legislation was passed in 1968 that moved the observance of Washington's Birthday to the third Monday in February, which also honors Lincoln's birthday. This day is now known as Presidents' Day.

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln in a one-room log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky. It is well known that his godly mother sat her son upon her knees every day and read to him from the Scriptures. She made sure to encourage him to memorize God’s Word. Special attention was given to learn the Ten Commandments.

It was also recorded that Lincoln attended a log schoolhouse in Indiana where he had no reading books––all his reading was done from the Bible. His knowledge of God’s Word was impressive. Scholar Paul Angle observed: “There was one Book ... which left its mark on much of what he [Lincoln] wrote. That was the Bible. Upon a familiarity which extended back to his youth, he could always depend.”

Abraham Lincoln became America's 16th President. He remained in office for about four years, from March 4, 1861, until his untimely death on April 15, 1865, when he was killed by a Confederate sympathizer. Throughout his Presidency, the Bible and its wisdom was what he often referred to.

When making decisions for your life, do you seek the Bible for wisdom?

In regard to this great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.
~Abraham Lincoln~

For more from Raul Ries, please visit SomebodyLovesYou.com!