“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.

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