Well, this week I planned on writing about the presidential election and the winning candidate… but alas, as I write this ponderings on Friday morning… we still do not know who will be President of the United States for the next four years. For some reason that I can’t quite wrap my mind around 2020 just seems like the perfect year for this reality… I wonder why…
Obviously, presidential elections are extremely important events both for our country and for us too. Most of us vote on principles that are very important to us which adds a layer of emotion to the process. If your candidate wins — you are elated… if they lose — it’s easy to become discouraged. Politics ebb and flow in our society for sure. Social change, economics, cultural dynamics and deep convictions often drive the narrative of political influence.
So, on the day after an election… or perhaps the week after an election in this case:)… How ought followers of Jesus respond? While Jesus rarely addressed the governmental issues and leadership of his day — often much to the chargin of his followers — he certainly taught principles that we can apply to our situation.
Remember the command to love your neighbor as yourself? When Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” He replied by teaching a parable of a person of one race of people extending compassion and mercy to a person of another race who often mistreated them. To say the parable of the Good Samaritan was shockingly — at least to the Jewish culture — a plea for social justice to the Samaritan people would be accurate. The bottom line teaching? To love others who look differently, think differently and come from a different background than you.
Jesus also taught us that ALL AUTHORITY has been given to him by his Heavenly Father. Perhaps your candidate for President won, maybe he didn’t… but one reality today is for certain — Jesus still holds ALL AUTHORITY. Nothing will ever thwart Jesus’ sovereignty and nothing can ever shake his Kingdom. You and I are not of this world… we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Light. This world is but a temporary experience… Heaven is our true home.
Jesus also set an example of the importance of prayer. He often spent time in communion with his Father — and he prayed about things that had great weight.
So, as follows of Jesus, after an election… let’s love well… and yes… that means people who take the opposite political view as you. Let’s remember where the ultimate in authority rests… in the safe and secure hands of Jesus. Never forget that this world is not your true home — that is yet to come. And let’s pray for whomever is going to lead our country forward — hopefully we will know that soon, but… well… you know… it’s 2020…
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