A few weeks ago, I went to the optometrist to get my eyes checked (Ah, the joys of aging). She had me sit down in a seat and stare through a big set of goggles at a picture on the far wall. Admittedly, the picture looked pretty fuzzy all that way across the room. Then, she started flipping lenses in front of my eyes. Some of these lenses further obscured the picture, but a few of them really helped bring it into focus. I left her office with a prescription for reading glasses, which she said are optional at this time but will probably be necessary before too long. And while I may not be quite ready to take that leap and pick out frames, I did leave with a newfound appreciation for the difference the right lenses can have on the way we view the world.
If there was ever a time we could use a new perspective, it’s right now as we prepare for the upcoming presidential election. I cannot recall an election that has been more polarizing and emotionally charged. We are used to seeing candidates slug it out, though this round seems far more ugly and personal than normal, but what I’m not used to is the way it’s caused so much division and anger between friends and neighbors. I’ve seen friends belittle one another on social media for hinting that they’d vote for one candidate over another. I’ve watched a protest in my own community that, like so many others, turned ugly and ended in physical violence and property destruction. I’ve even had a few people leave my church because someone in the congregation made a comment or forwarded them an email that supported one candidate over the other. As a pastor, this election has made my heart heavy.
Now, typically we only look at an election through the lenses of political pundits and social media, but I've found that these sources only stir up more fear and agitation. What we truly need is a new perspective on this election, one that is based on something more solid than the shifting sands of public opinion and partisan politics. My hope is that, in the following paragraphs, I can do for this election what my optometrist did for the picture on the wall - bring it into perspective through the use of some different lenses.
As a Christ-follower, I can think of no better framework to look at this election through than the Bible. It is the living, active and inspired word of God and it has outlasted nations and political movements. So the lenses I will use are biblical perspectives that can help us bring this election into focus.
Lens 1: As Christ-Followers, we are all foreigners.
A lot has been said this election about foreigners entering our country and living here. Ironically, if we call Jesus our Lord and Savior, then we ourselves are foreigners living in a land this not truly our home.
In the opening verse of 1 Peter, Peter addresses his letter to “God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia.” You might think that Peter is writing to Jews who have been driven from the Promised Land due to persecution. But in fact, he is writing this letter primarily to Gentile Christians who are currently living in the same towns and provinces where they were born. So what makes them exiles? The fact that through their faith in Jesus Christ, their citizenship has shifted. They are no longer identified by the kingdom into which they were born; they are now identified as members of the Kingdom of God.
This same recognition led the Apostle Paul to write “our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
Why does this matter? Because sometimes we get so focused on this world and the things in it that we forget that this isn’t our final destination. We may be American citizens, but being an American is a temporary condition. America is not our primary residence. If you have accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow him, you are not an American Christian, you are a Christian who happens to live in America. Our identity is fundamentally changed.
And yet, sometimes it feels as if our patriotism to this country overshadows our devotion to our God. Many of us spend more time worrying about the politics of this world than we do the values of the Kingdom of God. Here are a couple questions to consider:
- Do you look to a candidate or a political party as the solution to the issues we face?
- Do you spend more time reading articles, watching the news and browsing your social media feed than you do spending time with God and meditating on his word?
- Do you pay taxes, but resist giving a tithe?
- Are you more outspoken about your political perspective than you are your faith?
- Are you more concerned with the shifting morality of our nation than you are looking into your own heart and recognizing the ways you have resisted submitting to God?
- Are you more patriotic for America than you are for Jesus?
If we forget that, if we take our eyes off of God and look to a political party or a politician to fix the brokenness around us, not only will we be sorely disappointed, but we stumble into the same trap that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day fell into. They longed to see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done on earth, but their idea of how God would accomplish this was different from how God actually planned to accomplish it. They were awaiting the Messiah, God’s anointed redeemer, but their expectations of what this Messiah should look like had been irrevocably influenced by the power structures of the world around them, indelibly marked by a culture that said things like “might makes right,” “we advance by crushing our enemies” and “compromise is acceptable so long as the ends justify the means.“
Because of this, when their Messiah actually did show up, they couldn’t recognize him. Despite the fact that Jesus was doing what God said he would do - driving out demons, healing the sick, binding up the broken and breaking down strongholds - they viewed him as a pretender to the throne. What’s more, they viewed him as a danger to the status quo, because if Rome viewed him as a rebel, it could actually cost them their comfortable positions within the political environment of the day. So what did they do? They sought to shut him up and, when that didn’t work, they clamored for his death. They compromised in order to retain what little control they had by declaring their allegiance to Rome (the political power broker of their day) rather than embracing their King.
May we not forget that we are temporary residents in this world, citizens of the Kingdom of God, living in a world that does not share our values. May we never put our faith in a politician or a political party, because at the end of the day they are not our savior – last time I checked, Jesus was. Similarly, America is not the hope of the world - Jesus is.
This brings us to our second perspective shift –
Lens 2: Though only temporary residents, we still have a responsibility to be God’s representatives.
Despite the fact that we are citizens of another Kingdom (the Kingdom of God) and living here as foreigners, that doesn’t mean we have no responsibility for the place in which we live. We were designed by God to be His representatives and called to be ambassadors of hope to a hurting world (2 Corinthians 5:17-20). This leads the Apostle Peter to write:
“Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. ” (1 Peter 2:11-12)
How we live our lives matter, because we are God’s representatives. We reflect (albeit imperfectly) the heart of our King to the world around us. And our actions speak far more loudly than our words.
We are surrounded by people who live and think differently than us: the unmarried couple living together next door or the kid who is covered in tattoos and has his stereo turned up so high it makes your windows rattle. How we treat people like them declares to the world the sort of God that we serve, for better or worse. When someone accuses us of being bigoted or racist or sexist or closed-minded just because we call ourselves a Christ follower, how we respond shows them the sort of God we serve. Do we respond with love? Or do we return tit for tat, meet anger with anger, hatred with hatred? We can claim that God is love all day long, but how we respond to people that disagree with our political perspective says more to the world than our words.
Furthermore, we are called to reflect the values of the Kingdom of God, despite how contrary they are to the values of the world in which we reside. While the world says to destroy your enemies, either with words or weapons, Jesus told us to love our enemies and to pray for them. In a world that honors the strong and celebrates the victors who climb to the top over the broken backs of their competition, Jesus said that the greatest in the Kingdom of God will be a servant and put others well-being above their own.
So, as aliens and strangers here, citizens of a foreign country living in a broken, sin scarred world, we are called to embrace and exhibit the values of the kingdom of God, called to be representatives of our true King. Of course this doesn’t give us permission to simply disregard the laws and leadership of the land in which we reside. Peter continues:
“Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:13-17).
Notice that we submit ourselves to the leadership of this land “for the Lord’s sake.” We are his representatives, his ambassadors, and as such we don’t flaunt our freedoms, but we do live as representatives of the Kingdom of God.
Now, I want to be very clear about something. Just because we’re citizens of another Kingdom living in exile doesn’t mean that we disregard the upcoming election or refuse to do our civic duty of voting. After all, as Christ followers we are called to be stewards of what God has entrusted to our care, and our vote is one of those things. On November 8, we have an opportunity to give voice to our values through voting (not just for the top of the ticket, which is where we’ve spent the vast majority of our time focusing, but all the way down the ballot on issues that will impact our community as well as our country). To refuse to vote is about as effective as burying the talent our master has entrusted to us in the ground (Matthew 25:14-30).
However, I want us to remember that our vote is not the only tool we have for shaping and influencing our community. We may only go to the polls once a year, but we vote every single day for the kind of community we want to live in by the choices we make. We vote for the kind of community we want to live in by how we treat our neighbors, by the ways we spend our money, by the values that direct our actions and by the places where we volunteer.
I love the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, written to the Israelites as they found themselves living in exile, in a land that was not their true home. He said, “Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).
This may not be our permanent home, but as ambassadors of our King, we have a responsibility to care for the community in which we reside, and to pray for it. This includes praying for our leaders - even the ones we didn’t vote for - because they have been entrusted with the weight of leadership, and our God can and does use even bad leaders to bring about His good and perfect will.
This brings us to our third lens:
Lens 3: Regardless of who wins the election November 8, God is in control.
“Make your motions and cast your vote, but God has the final say” (Proverbs 16:33, MSG).
The message of scripture is that, while man has free will and we make choices that affect our reality (such as electing who will govern our country), God still works behind the scenes to bring about his perfect will. Now, at times it might seem like God has lost control and the inmates are running the asylum, but scripture is full of reminders that we might plot our course, but the Lord ultimately directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9).
We may be wringing our hands about what might happen on November 8, but the outcome is no surprise to our God. He already knows what will happen. He already sees how our choices will affect our temporary home, how it will shape our society. What’s more, He can and will use the outcome of the election to bring about His purpose and plans, even if what He wants isn’t exactly what we would have expected or asked for.
Let me give you an example. Consider the Israelites living as slaves in Egypt during the time of Moses. They would sit around the fire, recounting the story of their ancestor Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, then falsely accused of sexual harassment by a spiteful woman and ultimately thrown into jail. Yet, God used these circumstances to place Joseph into the right place at the right time so that he could rise to power and save the Israelites from the coming famine. They would remember Joseph’s words to his brothers – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). God used his brother’s jealousy, their decision to sell their brother into slavery, even a false accusation to place Joseph right where He wanted him.
And then, as these Israelites sat around the fire, with weary muscles and calloused hands from a lifetime of slave labor, they’d consider their current leader - Pharaoh. He was so different from the Egyptian ruler that had entrusted Joseph with power. This Pharaoh didn’t treat them as honored guests – he’d enslaved them. I would imagine that the Israelites of Moses’ day probably didn’t think that God had any control over their circumstances, probably felt that the Pharaoh in power was the wrong candidate. If they had been given a vote, they almost certainly wouldn’t have voted for him – maybe they’d have looked to Moses as their candidate for change.
Yet, God allowed Pharaoh to sit on the throne of the most powerful nation in the world, not because he was a Godly leader, but because our Creator was going to use Him to bring about His purpose and plan. Listen to what God told Pharaoh: “By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:15-16).
Don't think that someone is in power because our God has no control - they are in power because our God has allowed it and He plans to use them to advance His purpose and plans. Nations rise and fall, presidents come and go, but our God never changes - He never fails.
That’s not to say that we won’t suffer or endure persecution. In fact, if we take Jesus at his word, we are guaranteed to be persecuted for our faith (John 15:18-21). After all, we are foreigners living in a land that is at odds with our Lord and King. And just as they sought to silence Jesus, they will seek to silence us. However, just because we suffer persecution doesn’t mean God has lost and the brokenness of this world has won.
As I look around, I recognize the ways that God uses even persecution to advance His purposes and plans. It was persecution that prompted Rome to crucify Jesus. It was persecution that motivated the spread of the Gospel (Acts 8:1-4). And as I look around right now, the gospel is making the greatest impact in those areas of our world where Christ-followers are experiencing the greatest levels of persecution, places like China and the Middle East.
No one likes to be persecuted, but it seems that persecution actually promotes spiritual growth, so perhaps the greatest good that can come from this election is that the American people select politicians and policies that will further the persecution of the church. I’m not saying that’s the way I’m voting. I’m just saying that God’s ways are not always our ways and what we see as a setback might actually be a huge step forward. Regardless of the outcome of this election, we can have confidence that our God is on the throne, not only of our hearts, but of all of creation. Furthermore, although we don’t know what the path ahead looks like, we can rest assured that our Father in Heaven does and that His Kingdom will come and His will will be done.
So on Tuesday, November 8, go to a polling station and vote. Elect a temporary leader for our temporary home. But don’t forget that we are foreigners living in this land, and God is our true King. While we reside here we are called to be His ambassadors, reflecting His loving heart to our hurting world in both word and deed. Just remember, despite the outcome of this or any election, our God is in control and He will bring about His purpose and plans in this world and the one to come.
“Make your motions and cast your vote, but God has the final say” (Proverbs 16:33, MSG).
The message of scripture is that, while man has free will and we make choices that affect our reality (such as electing who will govern our country), God still works behind the scenes to bring about his perfect will. Now, at times it might seem like God has lost control and the inmates are running the asylum, but scripture is full of reminders that we might plot our course, but the Lord ultimately directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9).
We may be wringing our hands about what might happen on November 8, but the outcome is no surprise to our God. He already knows what will happen. He already sees how our choices will affect our temporary home, how it will shape our society. What’s more, He can and will use the outcome of the election to bring about His purpose and plans, even if what He wants isn’t exactly what we would have expected or asked for.
Let me give you an example. Consider the Israelites living as slaves in Egypt during the time of Moses. They would sit around the fire, recounting the story of their ancestor Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers, then falsely accused of sexual harassment by a spiteful woman and ultimately thrown into jail. Yet, God used these circumstances to place Joseph into the right place at the right time so that he could rise to power and save the Israelites from the coming famine. They would remember Joseph’s words to his brothers – “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). God used his brother’s jealousy, their decision to sell their brother into slavery, even a false accusation to place Joseph right where He wanted him.
And then, as these Israelites sat around the fire, with weary muscles and calloused hands from a lifetime of slave labor, they’d consider their current leader - Pharaoh. He was so different from the Egyptian ruler that had entrusted Joseph with power. This Pharaoh didn’t treat them as honored guests – he’d enslaved them. I would imagine that the Israelites of Moses’ day probably didn’t think that God had any control over their circumstances, probably felt that the Pharaoh in power was the wrong candidate. If they had been given a vote, they almost certainly wouldn’t have voted for him – maybe they’d have looked to Moses as their candidate for change.
Yet, God allowed Pharaoh to sit on the throne of the most powerful nation in the world, not because he was a Godly leader, but because our Creator was going to use Him to bring about His purpose and plan. Listen to what God told Pharaoh: “By now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth. But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:15-16).
Don't think that someone is in power because our God has no control - they are in power because our God has allowed it and He plans to use them to advance His purpose and plans. Nations rise and fall, presidents come and go, but our God never changes - He never fails.
That’s not to say that we won’t suffer or endure persecution. In fact, if we take Jesus at his word, we are guaranteed to be persecuted for our faith (John 15:18-21). After all, we are foreigners living in a land that is at odds with our Lord and King. And just as they sought to silence Jesus, they will seek to silence us. However, just because we suffer persecution doesn’t mean God has lost and the brokenness of this world has won.
As I look around, I recognize the ways that God uses even persecution to advance His purposes and plans. It was persecution that prompted Rome to crucify Jesus. It was persecution that motivated the spread of the Gospel (Acts 8:1-4). And as I look around right now, the gospel is making the greatest impact in those areas of our world where Christ-followers are experiencing the greatest levels of persecution, places like China and the Middle East.
No one likes to be persecuted, but it seems that persecution actually promotes spiritual growth, so perhaps the greatest good that can come from this election is that the American people select politicians and policies that will further the persecution of the church. I’m not saying that’s the way I’m voting. I’m just saying that God’s ways are not always our ways and what we see as a setback might actually be a huge step forward. Regardless of the outcome of this election, we can have confidence that our God is on the throne, not only of our hearts, but of all of creation. Furthermore, although we don’t know what the path ahead looks like, we can rest assured that our Father in Heaven does and that His Kingdom will come and His will will be done.
So on Tuesday, November 8, go to a polling station and vote. Elect a temporary leader for our temporary home. But don’t forget that we are foreigners living in this land, and God is our true King. While we reside here we are called to be His ambassadors, reflecting His loving heart to our hurting world in both word and deed. Just remember, despite the outcome of this or any election, our God is in control and He will bring about His purpose and plans in this world and the one to come.
