.png)
In the 1980’s, the time of the birth of the so-called "Moral Majority," I took interest in the world of politics for the first time in my life. Previous to that time, most of the conservative Christians that I knew avoided that world, considering it a dirty business to be avoided. Reagan entered the scene and began to actively speak a kind of language I understood and in a brief time I was seduced by the promise of a national renewal that would emerge from the halls of Congress.
40 years later I am aghast at the deception that so many Christ-followers have allowed. Awful and cruel policies of naked discrimination, leaders who lie without accountability and are supported without question, and fires of division stoked by apocalyptic and hateful words are the new normal. Politics has become the new religion. The expressions of devotion and the statements of dread reflect a kind of absolutism once reserved for convictions about the nature of God Himself!
Without apology I will say that politics are fool’s gold in any discussion about spiritual revival. Laws of men can never replace the Gospel of Christ and the power of the Spirit in the work of bringing God’s reign to the world.
Russell Moore wrote that “the most important lesson we should learn is that the church must stand against the way politics has become a religion, and religion has become politics.” Christians need to be more than Republican or Democrat, conservative or progressive!
We are first and foremost
citizens of Heaven
and disciples of Christ. Our best life is not found
in a party but in His Church!
What a horror it is to me to know that our convictions about health care, immigration, the care of the poor, human rights, or gender politics separate those who are called to be children of God, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. It has been said in my presence more than once, “He could not possibly be a Christian. Look at who he supports.” Come now, friend. Is that really true? Does support for the temporal agenda of some political party disqualify a person from knowing and loving Jesus Christ? Since when some national policy turn into a test to determine who is actually ‘in Christ?’
When we elevate the political process and misplace our hope in the power of legislation to save and transform the world, we have given ourselves to a false god and we have been seduced by an empty hope! The old cliché reminds us that we “cannot legislate morality. That is not to say that we have no interest in public policy and how it shapes the world in which we live. Christians, just like everyone else, have ideals that they would like to see written into law. (And, just like everyone else, they will think differently about many things.)
In truth, our highest and most holy calling is not to write better laws but rather to bring salvation to the nations through the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ! We transform our world by changing human hearts and minds. From changed hearts and minds flows the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, and such things. IF Christians are as divided as the culture in which they live and as religiously devoted to the relatively petty processes of politics, they will lose the unique and high calling of bringing Hope to the world.
We are to “maintain a prophetic clarity that is willing to call to repentance everything that is unjust and anti-Christ, whether that is the abortion culture, the divorce culture, or the racism/nativism culture.” (Russell Moore)
We must be people who wrestle with clarity, who will tell the truth, whether it helps or hurts our so-called ‘allies’ or our so-called ‘enemies.’” A prophet speaks on God’s behalf with holy authority born of her intimate relationship with God.
I will pointedly ask –
when you make those ripping statements on Facebook,
when you hurl hateful comments at the ‘other’ side,
when you seethe with rage about some defeat of legislation or
exult with something akin to religious ecstasy over the majority of one party
or the other–
is that the result of time before the Throne of Heaven and a profound
experience of the Holy, or is it an expression of the preferences of Self?
Many Christians are like Esau of old, selling their souls for a pot of soup! As I stated in the opening of this essay, I made that mistake a long time ago when I was enthralled with the siren song of the Moral Majority of the 1980’s. It is not one I will make again. Right or Left in our convictions, we cannot afford to become so closely aligned with one party’s agenda that we lose our ability to represent the One who is the Hope of the World. I am a Christian first, an American second, and my political affiliation comes in a distant third. How about you? Are you my brother or my sister in His family?
The word from the Word is a reminder of our true identity. I am His, He is mine.
In Christ, “You are a chosen people. You
are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own
possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called
you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. “Once you had no identity as a people; now
you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (1 Peter 2:9-11)
Father God, preserve
us in this time of change.
Call us into Your holy Presence.
As we kneel humbly and gain the assurance of
The salvation and Your love shown us in
Christ Jesus,
Help us to rise to love others to
wholeness.
Forgive us for making
our politics into a religion,
For giving devotion and fervor rightly
reserved for You
To lesser things.
Make Your Church
beautiful, a place of clear vision,
A people of hope, full of amazing,
courageous, and bold love.
Jesus shine brightly in us and through us. Amen
_______________________________
Video at https://www.youtube.com/@JerScott55
