Dear Church Family,
It’s my favorite season of the year - Fall! The weather is cooling, the leaves are changing, it’s football season, outdoor fire pits are in use, everything about it.
Well, almost everything.
They say every rose has its thorns. And every other Fall, those thorns show up in a big way. I’m talking about election season. Now don’t get me wrong – the fact that we live in a country where we can decide who the decision-makers will be is beyond a blessing! And we shouldn’t take that lightly at all. But the thorn is all that surrounds the blessing of voting: the political ads, the attacks, the arguments, the division in families and churches and communities. It’s more than thorns – it’s swords!
Unfortunately, we allow the talking heads to create cults of personality, where we become more loyal to a politician or a political party or even a political process than we are to a Person who cannot lie and who really did lay down His life out of love and service to us. It’s so backwards!
We as believers would do well to remember where our ultimate loyalties lie. And that means that we have to be able to have civil discussions with people who don’t vote like we do. That means we have to maintain respect for those across the aisle, recognizing that they are created in the image of God just like we are. We
must love the ones who see the issues differently than we do, knowing that Christ died for them just like He did for us. We can’t yell, block, unfriend, belittle, or gossip about someone else just because they have a D or an R beside their voter registration. Nope, that’s not how this works. Not when you call Him Lord. He takes precedence over your ideologies or political parties. His commands and the reflection of His character take center stage. Because the Christian life is not a democracy; it’s a theocracy.
But I also want to say a word to those who will never read this article. Those who are in elected positions have a great calling. And it’s full of pitfalls! But I would charge you and warn you at the same time that you must govern circumspectly, remembering that you are in the position you are in only because God willed it. And you will answer to Him for how you govern, how you protect the citizenry, and how you lead. Heed the words of the great King David:
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear
and celebrate his rule with trembling.
Kiss his son, or he will be angry
and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm 2:10-12 (NIV)
Pastor Lane