in view of the election tomorrow, i wanted to expand a little bit on last week's post about having a pliable faith. you may want to head over and refresh your memory, but basically i urged us to accept God's Word as the standard for our beliefs, instead of creating our own version of Christianity by accepting the things we like, and ignoring the things we don't. as i wrote all that out, i was reminded of something that C.S. Lewis warns about in Mere Christianity [which, if you haven't read, you absolutely MUST. both christians and non-christians, i think]
anyway... brace yourself. it's about to get political up in here.
"Most of us are not approaching [politics] in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally when we are offered either a Master, or a Judge." - CS Lewis
no matter how hard i try, i've never been able to boil down every single political or moral or cultural issue to plain black and white. this human existence is complicated, nuanced and never simple. there's lots of gray.
but we Americans like to choose red or blue. and we like to be die hard members of our chosen party, and often we'll defend our party's views at all costs. we determine what we believe based on fear or ignorance, or cultural trends, or our level of comfort with certain concepts and issues. and then we work from there, inviting every view that fits in, and rejecting everything that doesn't.
this is why you will find Christians who are democrats and Christians who are republicans, many of whom will say that you can't be a Christian if you belong to the opposite party.
well. i will promise you this: God is neither republican nor democrat. and at the risk of offending the majority of you: He's not American either.
no political party, no nation or culture, lines up 100% with God's laws or standards or His ultimate plan for humanity. He's just so much bigger than that. His Kingdom plan has been and will be unlike anything we could ever imagine or predict. as Jen Hatmaker so perfectly stated: "Four or eight years of an administration cannot compromise the historical work of a holy God." amen.
sometimes i think we're so blinded by "what we believe" politically that we don't want to see what is actually True based on God's Word. we pick and choose and then we hunt for verses that sort of back up our claims.
my eyes have been pried open to this in my own heart, and i believe it really is plaguing today's Christian culture in America. lately i don't want to believe what everyone else believes just because it's popular or logical or endorsed by so-and-so. i want to believe things out of Biblical conviction, straight from the mouth of God, as recorded in His Word. i'm asking God to make me bolder these days, to help me really see Truth, and to give me the courage to act [and vote] according to His will, not the popular moral opinion.
i don't want to tell you how to vote on any given ballot measure or candidate. that's not my point here at all. i don't even have a specific issue in mind as i write this. i just want to offer a few cautions and challenges:
• let's not be so dogmatic and rigid in our political views that we forget the gospel and the great commandment and the great commission.
• let's not allow our political party's agenda to trump or negate our call to love
- similarly, let's not allow our political party's agenda justify our hate and prejudice and ignorance.
• let's not let our political affiliation become a hindrance to building relationships and loving people.
• let's not, for one second, allow our political talk to reek of pride and ignorance while the sweet aroma of Christ is completely unrecognizable in us.
• let's be radical. but let's be radical about the gospel of Jesus Christ, first and foremost.
• where politics has to take the backseat, let's allow it to.
• let's be responsible and careful and informed and engaged. and by all means, let's exercise the vote that we have. but never at all costs. we've been called to something that's so much bigger than the state of the union, Someone so much more powerful and beautiful and mind-blowing than the president of this country.
• let's be about Him and His people.
and lastly, if my plea has failed, please read [this post] by Jen Hatmaker. the end.
anyway... brace yourself. it's about to get political up in here.
"Most of us are not approaching [politics] in order to find out what Christianity says: we are approaching it in the hope of finding support from Christianity for the views of our own party. We are looking for an ally when we are offered either a Master, or a Judge." - CS Lewis
but we Americans like to choose red or blue. and we like to be die hard members of our chosen party, and often we'll defend our party's views at all costs. we determine what we believe based on fear or ignorance, or cultural trends, or our level of comfort with certain concepts and issues. and then we work from there, inviting every view that fits in, and rejecting everything that doesn't.
this is why you will find Christians who are democrats and Christians who are republicans, many of whom will say that you can't be a Christian if you belong to the opposite party.
well. i will promise you this: God is neither republican nor democrat. and at the risk of offending the majority of you: He's not American either.
no political party, no nation or culture, lines up 100% with God's laws or standards or His ultimate plan for humanity. He's just so much bigger than that. His Kingdom plan has been and will be unlike anything we could ever imagine or predict. as Jen Hatmaker so perfectly stated: "Four or eight years of an administration cannot compromise the historical work of a holy God." amen.
sometimes i think we're so blinded by "what we believe" politically that we don't want to see what is actually True based on God's Word. we pick and choose and then we hunt for verses that sort of back up our claims.
my eyes have been pried open to this in my own heart, and i believe it really is plaguing today's Christian culture in America. lately i don't want to believe what everyone else believes just because it's popular or logical or endorsed by so-and-so. i want to believe things out of Biblical conviction, straight from the mouth of God, as recorded in His Word. i'm asking God to make me bolder these days, to help me really see Truth, and to give me the courage to act [and vote] according to His will, not the popular moral opinion.
i don't want to tell you how to vote on any given ballot measure or candidate. that's not my point here at all. i don't even have a specific issue in mind as i write this. i just want to offer a few cautions and challenges:
• let's not be so dogmatic and rigid in our political views that we forget the gospel and the great commandment and the great commission.
• let's not allow our political party's agenda to trump or negate our call to love
- similarly, let's not allow our political party's agenda justify our hate and prejudice and ignorance.
• let's not let our political affiliation become a hindrance to building relationships and loving people.
• let's not, for one second, allow our political talk to reek of pride and ignorance while the sweet aroma of Christ is completely unrecognizable in us.
• let's be radical. but let's be radical about the gospel of Jesus Christ, first and foremost.
• where politics has to take the backseat, let's allow it to.
• let's be responsible and careful and informed and engaged. and by all means, let's exercise the vote that we have. but never at all costs. we've been called to something that's so much bigger than the state of the union, Someone so much more powerful and beautiful and mind-blowing than the president of this country.
• let's be about Him and His people.
and lastly, if my plea has failed, please read [this post] by Jen Hatmaker. the end.
I couldn't agree more. Yes yes yes!! I have some neighbors that have a sign saying "vote biblically" in their yard. So far that's the best one I've seen! The hope I have is knowing we serve the sovereign God. I vote as he leads me, but the ultimate power is always his. :-)
ReplyDeletewhat a great sign! I love that. and yes, you're so right, the ultimate power IS always His.
Deletelove, love love this. seriously after each post you write I just love you even more :) and you point me to Jesus which is a huge blessing. I too see things very gray and tend to see actual people instead of "issue" or "statistics" or "morality" I think the more we engage the world for the Kingdom the messier and gray-er it becomes. can't wait to hug you this weekend.
ReplyDeleteyes, it DOES become messier. what a strange thing, huh? but as life seems to get messier, the truth of the gospel seems to get clearer. the ONLY SURE THING is God loves us, Jesus died to set us free, and none of us could ever deserve any of it.
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