God and Politics

There is an age old saying that goes something like this, "Although we can talk about many things, we should not talk about religion or politics." This saying always pops back into my mind during an election year. Many, many people do exactly that - they avoid any discussion of either religion or politics. Others spend all their time speaking ad naseum about politics and mixing it with faith and religion.

As someone who grew up with a different political system, I have some personal observations about elections, particularly presidential elections.

• Everybody has an opinion, although not everyone is willing to share theirs.
• Biases are real and are never exclusive to one set of people. Everybody has one. Accusation, innuendo and propoganda tend to rule the day rather than informed discussion.
• Social media is probably not the best place to have a good dialogue or exchange of ideas.
• Depending where you live, God is either Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, accomodating or rules oriented, pro-USA or juding the nation, etc, etc.
• Many nice, normal and rational people become mean, weird and utterly irrational when politics comes up.

There are thousands of articles, blogs, sermons and discussions on a Christ-follower's role in all this so I have no desire to try and repeat all or any of it. While it might be simply my opinion, I believe that politics is actually an opportunity to engage our friends, neighbors and co-workers in meaningful discussion. In order for this to be effective though, we need to remember a couple of things:

1. Nothing is ever black and white as it appears on the surface. There are complexities and layers to every situation or candidate.
   
2. It is better to listen than to talk. Ask questions. Dig deeper. Explore why people are saying what they are saying. If you are having a conversation, ask the Spirit to help you see under the surface to what this person's heart's desires really are. If Jesus runs my life, I don't need to prove or defend anyone or anything.
3. The hope of our world lies in Jesus, not governments. We have the privilege of living in a land of democracy where our voice can be heard. Yet every time I read the New Testament, I can't help but think that it was written to people who had no rights and where racism and slavery were rampant. There were political and social elites and life was cheap and way more risky than today. And yet in the midst of that, Christ-followers were called to spread the love, forgiveness and grace of Jesus and in doing so they changed the world.

So enjoy the election. Make your voice heard. Vote. But place your hope in the ONE who is the salvation of the world.