Political Season – by Pastor Tony

  Posted on April 6, 2016  by   No comments

How is your walk with the Lord?  Seriously.  

Welcome to the election year. Actually, by now – we are past the time of welcoming.  There are many voices out there.  There are many opinions.  For many of us, we see the election of a President as a time when real change can be made.  We obsess (my wife may be able to attest to this of her husband) over the political drama that is unfolding before us.  We feel as though we are about to make a life or death selection.  Each candidate is making that same case – each in his or her own way.  

Truthfully, we live in a time when our fears of a physical battle, coming upon these shores, seems inevitable if not already upon us.  Hysteria brings us to an exasperating place of utter despair.  “What can be done?!” seems to be the refrain of our minds.  

Let’s put that question aside for a moment.  Given our current political climate, let’s be imaginative regarding what the election of our next president might accomplish.  Don’t worry, I’m not going to get political.  

What if every physical threat disappeared?  What if, all of a sudden, we elected a president who was able to curb (in whatever capacity – choose any antidote you desire for this hypothetical) the impending doom that our worst fears can muster?  How would this affect you?  Imagine a world in which somehow those who seek to do us harm (think Isis) are convinced that violence is not the answer.  Or, let your mind find a different answer – perhaps the antidote is utter destruction for our enemies.  However you decide to answer our apparent doom, ask yourself this question: How would this affect you?  

Conversely, what would happen if we elected a president who actually ushered us into a time of outright war.  You may be reading this and thinking, “we are already at war!” That may be true, but what if the nature of this war changed suddenly to include a full-fledged attack upon the St. Croix River Valley?   What if our new President were to turn our country over to a people who desire utter demise and complete obliteration of every life?  In short, what if Hitler wins this time?  

Then what?  How would this affect you?  

Are you unsettled?  Christian, are you unsettled?  

In our first hypothetical, we may be inclined to feel a sense of peace – if we can finally cure the problem that causes this animosity of the Western world – by compelling or expelling – we would finally have peace!  Are the anxieties of your heart at rest?  

How about our second hypothetical?  Are you entirely undone? Are the greatest anxieties of your heart fully realized in this scenario?  

The extent of our vacillation in anxiety reveals a real problem in our walk with the Lord.  

The early church was no stranger to persecution and war.  In fact, they were put through terror that many of us would find it difficult to even look upon – let alone live (or die) through.  Yet, these physical battles are not what the writings of the early church tell us about.  

No.  The physical battles that the early Christians endured were beside the point.  For them, it was not a physical battle that they waged.  If it were, the New Testament would be filled with a political pleading to overthrow the Roman empire that aggressively murdered Christians.  History clearly records the atrocities that the Emperor Nero executed.  Diocletian, a few years later makes a calculated effort to rid the world of Christianity.  These were physical battles.

Yet, the early church did not see these battles as the real war.  

The attention of the true Christian’s heart is wrapped up in another battle.  Paul talks about this in Ephesians 6.  Paul writes “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but…against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).  Any rational onlooker might quickly have objected to Paul’s statement – “yes we do wrestle against flesh and blood!” But, Paul was revealing that the physical battles that we face must be secondary. Our primary concern is not physical.  

The reason we asked those questions above is to reveal where we truly believe the battle exists. In which battle are you emotionally engaged?  If our current physical situation eclipses the ultimate battle that is going on in our souls, then we must adjust our hearts.  

The physical battle is nowhere near as important as the eternal battle that is being waged in our own homes, families, churches and workplaces.  

The good news for us is that Jesus Christ has had the ultimate victory.  He has done what we could not. He has had the victory.  Thus, a Christian with a right perspective on his or her existence, can exhibit a heart of true peace despite the drama the physical world brings to our doorstep.  

Let us be a people fully focused upon and content with our faithful savior Jesus Christ.  Thank God, we don’t need to elect Him.  For He has elected us.  

Blessings,

Pastor Tony