Quote of the day by Jimmy Carter: 'We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon'

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's enduring message, "We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon," continues to resonate as a call to spiritual readiness and immediate, purposeful action. This memorable statement, penned in his 1997 book 'Sources of Strength: Meditations on Scripture for a Living Faith,' encapsulates a core tenet of his lifelong faith. Carter, who famously taught Sunday School for decades at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, compiled his biblical meditations into the devotional book. The quote, appearing within a reflection on the Christian doctrine of the Second Coming, urges believers to treat Christ's return not as a distant, abstract event, but as an imminent motivation for daily conduct. It transforms a profound theological concept into an urgent imperative for ethical living and good deeds. Carter first articulated this sentiment in March 1976, while addressing his Bible class. At the time, he was a relatively unknown former Georgia governor running a long-shot presidential campaign. His life story, marked by a deep influence from his community's devout Baptist faith, his service in the U.S. Naval Academy's nuclear submarine program, and his return to revive his family's peanut farming business, laid the foundation for his political career. After serving as Georgia State Senator and Governor, Carter entered the presidency in 1976, campaigning as an honest, religious outsider. Despite a landslide defeat in 1980, he and his wife Rosalynn founded The Carter Center in 1982, dedicating themselves to global peacemaking and election monitoring for the next four decades.

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We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.