“No matter what happens in the election, Jesus is on His throne.”
Every year those posts go around social media in early November. And, to be fair, there’s no disputing that it’s a factual statement. It’s also a needed one. Overly panicked responses to election results reveal that our faith may be a little bit too grounded in the things of this world.
However…
I grow tired of Christians using the phrase to indicate that these things don’t really matter and that it’s worldly-minded to care. Elections have real-life consequences. We have to live with what happens, and we’re building what the next generation will have to work with – or through.
And, so far, it’s not good.
Food, gas, housing, and everything else keep getting harder to afford. Crime is becoming a serious issue in some of our greatest cities. The kind of people in office determined whether you were allowed out of your house for 6+ months in 2020, whether you were allowed to go to church or sing while there, or what medical treatments you had to accept to keep your job in 2021. Local elections might decide whether drag queens are allowed to read grooming material to your kids and their friends.
This stuff matters. Bad governance has been the single biggest cause of suffering and death over the course of living memory. And, it’s not wrong to desire a better, freer, safer lives for ourselves and our children. Isn’t that another way of “loving our neighbors?”
Beyond all of that, God is not happy with wicked governments, and we don’t have to be either.
Jesus’ ultimate rule doesn’t mean He’s indifferent to the results of our elections.
The Bible pretty clearly outlines what He expects of governments and peoples. It also shows we should desire that they would choose those things.
“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
There are those in the church who stand up in times like these to tell us we need to “just evangelize.” But in these verses Paul clearly links our evangelism with the actions of the government. We should be actively praying that they would make it easier for us to evangelize. That doesn’t mean we stop evangelizing if they don’t treat us that way, but it’s good and right to desire they do.
Again, these things matter.
Yes, Jesus can and will make good come of whatever man gives Him, whether good or bad. He wins in the end. But for our sakes, good is still better than bad. Winning in the meantime is alright, too.
And it’s not wrong to say so.
Thank you Jack, very good comments and perspective.
Amen!
Thank you. David Lipscomb’s book, On Civil Government: Its Origin, Mission, and Destiny, and the Christian’s Relation to It, written after the Civil war, has provided me with cleareyed perspective on the distinction between Civil Government and the Devine Government of God. https://www.amazon.com/Civil-Government-Christians-Discipleship-Stone-Campbell-ebook/dp/B007INNZZO/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BWIUZBB3GAHI&keywords=david+lipscomb&qid=1668097687&sprefix=david+lipscom%2Caps%2C820&sr=8-1
I’m actually a strong critic of Lipscomb’s work. He starts with the unfounded premise that all government exists in rebellion to God, a direct contradiction of Romans 13.
Jack, I dearly appreciate the Bible based articles you post here. They are directly from the Bible and totally applicable to the current dilemmas we are in as a country and the world. Thank you for standing on the truth and proclaiming the truth without apologizing. Please keep it up and GODSPEED!
Thank you for saying so, glad they’re a blessing!
I have been trying to reach Jack Wilkie for a while and have not been able too.