I wanted to take a moment to talk about politics outside of their normal season. Maybe, if we aren’t in the midst of an election, we can be a bit more dispassionate and just have a chat. Unfortunately, politics have instead chosen to steal a page from the Christmas playbook and take over all year, every year. The question becomes simple, if not easy, one for us as people of faith. Who truly rules?
Part of the problem with discussions of politics is that we tend to lose sight of the basic realities we face. First, as people of faith, we know that God is the sovereign ruler of all creation. He is, in fact, in charge. While all Christians would likely acknowledge that He rules, we do seem to disagree a lot about what that means for us. Often, we fall into one of two extreme wrong answers. Some will believe that, because God rules all things, we have no obligation to do much of anything. Others will say that God rules, but live their lives as if everything is actually the result of human efforts.
God, in His loving plan, invites us to neither of these approaches, but instead into a cooperation with Him and His will. We are given and entrusted with free will, so God will not simply force us to obey. We are also not God, though, so we are not expected, or capable, of doing everything ourselves. We have an obligation to build up the Kingdom of God here on Earth, letting that idea be the goal for all of our decisions. The beauty of it all, though, is that even if we make the wrong choice, God is able to bring good out of it.
This is why I say, when it comes to human ideologies, we should date, but not marry. There is only one spouse(in this analogy for politics and all other human activity) deserving of our full, faithful commitment, and that is God. In everything else, we should be seeking out the good, leaving behind what is wrong, and spreading the good news we have found.
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