This past weekend a friend wrote to me to ask whether I thought Christians were missing the gospel in the midst of the political climate right now. Here's part of what I wrote back:
I think many Christians (probably including myself) are missing it to the extent that we get sucked into treating any earthly kingdom as though the kingdom of God depends upon it. Christians--liberals and conservatives alike--assume that what God is doing in the world depends on having the right person or people in the proper seat of power, when our own faith should teach us that the only person that matters is King Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father.
When we take our eyes off him, we end up assuming that it's our job to make the world turn out right, so we end up elated when our candidate ends up as President and end up in despair when our candidate doesn't win.
We've tied our identities and hopes to nations, to political parties within nations, to movements, rather than to the kingdom which will not be moved and the city which will not be shaken, whose founder and builder is God.
And when we tie our identities to anything other than Jesus, we turn ugly. We think it's about us. We move from treating others as neighbors to be engaged and turn them into enemies to be defeated. When we take our eyes off God's grace, we end up treating people as we think they deserve, rather than acting toward them as God acted toward us--gracious, patient, and truthful.
Christians have for too long been driven by a lust for political power, which is one reason why progressive Christians lauded Pres. Obama and conservative Christians attacked him at every turn, and why now that the actors have changed, the game goes on. We need to stop hating the players, and starting hating the game of marrying Christianity with our nation and/or our political party.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Realize that our job isn't to run the nation or make the world a better place by seeking political power.
Realize that the church, not America, is the beloved community.
We're called to bear witness to God's kingdom together, as God's people, by proclaiming the truth about King Jesus and, by God's help,loving each other as Christ loved us. If that's not our main focus, then we're definitely missing it. And, God help us, I think many of us are.
I think many Christians (probably including myself) are missing it to the extent that we get sucked into treating any earthly kingdom as though the kingdom of God depends upon it. Christians--liberals and conservatives alike--assume that what God is doing in the world depends on having the right person or people in the proper seat of power, when our own faith should teach us that the only person that matters is King Jesus, seated at the right hand of the Father.
When we take our eyes off him, we end up assuming that it's our job to make the world turn out right, so we end up elated when our candidate ends up as President and end up in despair when our candidate doesn't win.
We've tied our identities and hopes to nations, to political parties within nations, to movements, rather than to the kingdom which will not be moved and the city which will not be shaken, whose founder and builder is God.
And when we tie our identities to anything other than Jesus, we turn ugly. We think it's about us. We move from treating others as neighbors to be engaged and turn them into enemies to be defeated. When we take our eyes off God's grace, we end up treating people as we think they deserve, rather than acting toward them as God acted toward us--gracious, patient, and truthful.
Christians have for too long been driven by a lust for political power, which is one reason why progressive Christians lauded Pres. Obama and conservative Christians attacked him at every turn, and why now that the actors have changed, the game goes on. We need to stop hating the players, and starting hating the game of marrying Christianity with our nation and/or our political party.
Seek first the kingdom of God.
Realize that our job isn't to run the nation or make the world a better place by seeking political power.
Realize that the church, not America, is the beloved community.
We're called to bear witness to God's kingdom together, as God's people, by proclaiming the truth about King Jesus and, by God's help,loving each other as Christ loved us. If that's not our main focus, then we're definitely missing it. And, God help us, I think many of us are.
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