The election, at long last, is over.
As fellow believers, we offer to our new leaders the pledge of our prayers and our commitment to be good citizens in this wonderful land that the Lord has privileged us to live in.
In this moment as I talk with you, I do not know the results of the election because this was recorded prior to the election. I wanted to bring these comments to you without knowing who won – because our responsibilities as Christians transcend politics – and we must be who we are regardless of who wins.
The first century Christians lived in a time far different than ours.
The government was a repressive dictatorship. Life was cheap. Slavery was practiced. Infanticide was common. Romans chapter one outlines the steep and deep degradation morally and ethically in the prevailing culture.
Christians then, unlike us, did not have the right to vote. In fact, throughout the first 200 plus years of the Church, Christians were a persecuted minority. Yet, those early Christians turned the world upside down and right side up. How did they do it? Through the ballot box? No. Through electing leaders that were preferential to their point of view? No. They changed the world by being what Jesus called them to be – salt and light.
I must confess that during these past long months of electioneering, I let the externals of
politics take too much of my time and interest. Perhaps you did as well. It’s easy to get so overly
absorbed in politics that we lose sight of the fact that our citizenship is really in heaven – that
governments, presidents, senators, and political leaders come and go – but the kingdom of God lasts forever.
I am not saying that we should not be involved, as citizens, in political issues; but I think it is
vital that we keep perspective. Our focus should be more on winning people to Jesus than winning elections. We need to be more concerned about the progress of the Gospel than the progress of a political party.
I want to call you to refocus on the health of the church – that the real answers to eternal
issues lie not in the government – but in a revitalized body of believers that transforms neighborhoods and communities through our witness in word and deed.
For more from Dr. Wood go to http://www.ag.org/.
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