Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Christian response to the election results

     Now what?  Your candidate did or did not win.  Your measure did or did not win.  Your ideology was supported or it wasn't. However, the election is over and we must respond as Christians.  Just what does that mean?  It doesn't mean that you are an enemy if you voted against who and what won.  Nor does it mean you have a right to abscond with our possessions and go to a different country, state or town.  It also doesn't mean that you are some horrible person for voting the way you did.  The response of the Christian is not to be negative.  There is no love in negativity.  Jesus told us to be all about love and in particular His love for others. There are many different responses we can and should have in our hearts and minds as we contemplate what we have just succeeded or been defeated in with regards to elections.  Just as it was and is your duty to vote, it's also your duty to now support what is.  Well, mostly.  You see, we need to pray for our leaders regardless of who they are.  We cannot effect any change in anyone.  What we can do is beseech God to send the Holy Spirit to help those in leadership to do the job they were elected for by the wisdom and guidance of God.  The prayers of the people of God are what really brings change in the Christian world and also in the non-Christian world.  You are a necessary and vital part of that world.
     Before you go all hating on me, listen to the rest of the story.  What do we do if there are measures that have been passed that aren't what Scripture would agree with?  What do we do if there are people who have been elected that don't adhere to a Godly life?  What does the Christian do?  For beginners, they respond.  There is no abdicating the responsibility we Christians carry.  None.  The only choice is to do something.  There have been many Christians (beginning with Peter and John) who have stood up to the authorities and chose to honor God instead.  There is everything right about making a stand for what God wants.  Just make sure it's what God wants and not what we want.  The self deceived are in trouble at this point.  Life isn't about you.  It's also not about me or the president or that favorite measure.  Life and the Christian life in particular should be first ad foremost about Jesus.  That's where we either rise to the occasion or we fall flat on our faces.  The old acronym WWJD has been much overplayed but fits here.  What would Jesus do with what we have done?  If it's what he would have done then we are in good shape.  If it's not what Jesus would have done, we are in trouble from the get go.
     Bottom line.  If you are not a part of what Jesus is doing and wants you to do, you are against Him.  James 4:17 says that "if we know what is right to do and don't do it, we sin."  How much simpler does the Scripture have to be?  Remembering that God gave us free will, we need to assess just how he wants us to use that free will.  Would he want the Christian to disavow any support of the leaders who have been elected?  No.  Would he want the Christian to go against the law that has been put in place by the authorities?  No.  Would Jesus want the Christian to spend the next 4 or more years complaining about what is wrong?  No.  Would Jesus want the Christian to roll over and play dead for that same time span?  No.  NO.  He would like to choose Jesus every moment of every day.  If you can do nothing else, pray for change that reflects God's will.  It's your choice...always!

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