“If you’re a Christian, you CANNOT vote for ____________”
“If America is going to survive, this person/party CANNOT win”
These are both things I keep hearing.
To my fellow brothers and sisters IN CHRIST, we have to stop this!
________________________________________________________________________________
The first statement ADDS TO the gospel. It basically says, “Jesus’ death on the cross was not enough to secure your righteousness, you must also vote correctly!”
That is a false gospel
Are we preaching a false gospel to the world?
Do we want to be held accountable for preaching something other than Christ and him crucified?
_________________________________________________________________________________
And as for the second statement, that could go either way. Maybe America will (very unfortunately—because trust me, I am THANKFUL for this country and thankful I was born here), but maybe it will collapse, or at least change so radically that it’s not so recognizable anymore.
And then what?
Do we lose our security as children of the Kingdom?
Perhaps we join with so many others in history and the modern church, where faith in Christ really costs us something and we don’t get to call the shots and grab the power and have it our way?
Or maybe things will turn out okay for the USA. Maybe people will ditch the toxic partisanship and embrace a lens of humanity and shared ideals again.
Photo by Leintz Belony on Unsplash
Either way, the Church will survive. Jesus promised this. People will continue to be precious to God. People from ALL nations, tribes, and tongues.
So my encouragement is this:
STOP
- Preaching a false gospel of political works
- Calling for hatred and violence of and toward the “other”
- Name-calling and denigrating the Image of God in people on the other side of the aisle
- Thinking the USA is the salvation of the world
START
- Fixing your eyes on Jesus
- Remembering his greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself
- Calling out the good and calling people up into their identity as Image Bearers of God
- Remembering that Jesus Christ alone is the salvation of the world
Photo by Thanti Nguyen on Unsplash
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