In light of today’s turbulent political scene where everyone who disagrees with the next guy is an idiot, I thought I should finally get in on the action. So, let me set it all up and tell you how I filter my political views. More than anything, I consider myself a follower of Jesus Christ [meaning that I confess with my mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead resulting in a desire to answer the call "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."] Being a follower of Jesus Christ should work its way through a person’s whole life. At least that’s what I believe. So, my everyday actions, feelings, and thoughts toward my country, my community, my family, my stuff and myself should align themselves with the thought that Christ rules over every area of my life. Got, it? Alright then we’ll move on from here.So, the primary thought that I have on politics is that Jesus wasn’t a conservative, he wasn’t a liberal and he definitely wasn’t a moderate. But, he was and IS a radical. I am about to make very broad sweeping statements about all of these political alignments, so don’t condemn me until you hear me out. But, I do welcome your thoughts. Conservatives want small government and big business when it comes to our money, but they like to have morality ruled with an iron fist. Liberals like to have big government that helps those in need whether those in need in anyway live morally. And moderates can’t really make up their minds. They like stuff about both sides so they’re afraid to commit to just one. :-) Haha! So, by me saying Jesus is a radical what I mean is that he doesn’t lean in any of these directions (or that he isn’t in this taking sides business). He walked to a different drumbeat; that of his Father in heaven of whose will he said he came to fulfill.
There were liberals and there were conservatives in Jesus’ day. The most conservative were the Sadducees (who didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead) and then there were the Pharisees. At the opposite end of the spectrum were the Zealots who wanted to overthrow the Romans and were willing to risk the livelihood of the nation to do it (sounds radical – or just crazy?) But Jesus didn’t fall into any of their camps, he made his own camp. It was a camp of caring for the lost sheep of Israel and preparing the way for all men that would to receive eternal life. And, so now my point of all this is that for Christ followers, he has made this way and he has left us with a mission. See Matthew 28:18-20. So, why are we more concerned with this world’s affairs and making life comfortable for us and our children than we are concerned about telling lost men and women about Jesus? Why are we more enthralled with the latest gadgets, gizmos and trappings that the pagans chase after than we are with “look[ing] after orphans and widows in their distress and [keeping ourselves] from being polluted by the world”? See 2 Timothy 2:4 and James 1:27… We have a fight but our fight should not be with each other over political “stuff” unless it is unjust to the poor – not your friend that owns the tanning salon that might be hurt by an excise tax but people who are truly poor through circumstances such as oppression and/or calamity. Our fight should be against a very real enemy that is dragging people off to hell at alarming rate. So, brothers and sisters, I urge you live the life you’ve been called to by Christ and preach the gospel both with your lifestyle and your mouth being led by the spirit.
Don’t get me wrong. We should be involved in the political process. We have a very powerful voice called a vote. We should study candidates, we should pray, and we should vote in the way that we believe God is leading. We should also cry foul when we see the defenseless being oppressed. But, more than we are involved in politics for the sake of politics, we should be involved for the sake of the kingdom of Christ.
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