Yesterday, New Year's Day, I received an email (sent to a Bible study group) from a professing Christian criticizing President and Mrs. Clinton. I thought that at least the person would have the courtesy to wait until January 2, but no, I guess that would be asking too much. Below is my response:
Dear
Brothers -
I have to assume that
one someone sends me an email that he or she expects me to read it. So I have
read this, and I am once again challenged with my own sin, and with the fact
that we all fall short of the glory of God. I am also challenged as to whether or
not I faithfully pray for leadership in government - whether I agree with them
or not.
Paul writes to Titus: “Remind
them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for
every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every
consideration for all men.”
Paul writes to
Timothy: “The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able
to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness opposing those who are in
opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge
of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of
the devil. Having been held captive by him to do his will.”
I have come to
anticipate that every election year will be a challenging year for professing
Christians, especially years with national elections; I anticipate this because
these seem to be years when professing Christians forget the fact that God is
sovereign and that the Bible teaches us that God is in control of the affairs
of men (check out Daniel Chapters 1 – 5 for a refresher course).
Paul reminds us that
our citizenship is in heaven, (Philippians 3:20).
The Great Commission
Christ gave us is to bring others to Him, not to convince others concerning a
political or economic agenda. The Great Commandment He gave us is to love Him
with all that we are and to love others as ourselves. Anything that pulls us
away from our central mission is a distraction – when the world hears a keynote
other than Jesus from the professing church there is a problem.
I don’t know anyone
who can be as sarcastic as I can be; my capacity for sarcasm exceeds anyone I’ve
ever met or heard or read – and that scares me when I read the Bible – I am
convicted of my sin and I realize that when I engage in vitriol and cutting
sarcasm that I am not drinking of the cup of my Lord Jesus, but rather from the
cup of the enemy.
Comments such as (in
the email sent to us): “Electing Hillary Clinton president would be
like granting Satan absolution and giving him the keys to heaven!” are simply not helpful and obscure meaningful
discussion about issues. Plus, I am not aware that this statement has a
Biblical basis.
While I certainly don’t endorse much of
Mr. Clinton’s behavior when he was president, I also know that the
professing-church is promiscuous in that we have many lovers other than our
Lord Jesus. And while I don’t endorse people in political power leveraging that
power for financial gain, I know that I have not shared my own resources the
way I should have over the course of my life – and I know that we as a
professing church have not done so either (2 Corinthians Chapters 8 – 9 for a
refresher course). I also know that we can likely find unethical behavior in
all political administrations.
Then there is this from the email: “Please
pass this on. Our way of life may depend on it!” This lacks such detail
that I’m not certain what “way of life” the author is writing about. My Way of
Life is Jesus Christ, and I hope He is your way of life – thank God our Way of
Life in Jesus Christ cannot be affected by politics – unless it challenges us
to be more like Jesus.
While in legal terms “liable”
and “slander” occur when something untrue is written or said, this is not the
case in Biblical thinking. In Biblical thinking the devil is a slanderer not because
what he says about us is untrue in terms of our sins, but because what he says
about us is untrue in the light of Jesus Christ dying for our sins. Mr.
and Mrs. Clinton are no different than we are: Jesus Christ loves them just as
much, and if we know ourselves outside of Jesus Christ then we all know that
they don’t have anything on us in terms of sins – would we want our lives put
up on a projector?
If we insist on
talking about people rather than ideas, then let’s talk about Jesus.
Jesus is not only the
Reason for the Season, He is the Reason for Life – including life in an
election year.
Much love,
Bob
