Faithfully Political

Conversations are either productive or unproductive in large measures to mutual understanding. Two people don’t have to agree for a conversation to be productive, but they do need to understand one another. This can occur when a humble pursuit of truth is the aim.

The objective should always be truth but that’s a hard word to define. It shouldn’t be but it is. The tendency is to approach truth like a commodity, as if it’s up for grabs, and something to be possessed. The more polarized we become as a society, the more likely we are to treat truth as a possession. In a democracy these truth wars play out primarily in the political sphere. It’s the blessing and curse of a democracy. Everything becomes politicized. Things like the environment, athletics, education, immigration, arts, all have a political function, and it can even happen to our faith.

I thank God for our country. It doesn’t take much traveling around the world to see that we are incredibly blessed! We should pray for our elected leaders, military, first responders, and every aspect of government. Governments are ordained by God to execute His authority (Romans 13). Engaging politically is a matter of stewardship. We should seek to establish a government that reflects Biblical principles while guarding against government as our supreme hope (nationalism). It’s a fine line but our political allegiance must submit to Jesus. Both Republican and Democratic ideals are temporary at best and flawed human systems at their worst. God’s wisdom is from above and does not fit squarely into any human system. That’s why the source of eternal change comes through Jesus and His Church.

I made a comment preaching recently that the American church has been duped into believing that political parties and presidents will solve all our problems. I hold true to that statement, and it’s a reality that causes me deep grief. It’s a scheme of Satan that he loves to use, and I am not immune. It grieves me deeply because there are times, I too have been duped. If Satan can’t accomplish his purposes one way, he is happy to try another. When the early church couldn’t be stopped by persecution, Satan granted them power. It’s the same carrot he dangles before us today. Power can be leveraged for good or evil but when it becomes intoxicating and we compromise on truth in its pursuit, it becomes an idol. I see a great temptation before us to worship at the altar of power and control. I feel the pull on my own heart.

Truth is objective and for those who follow Jesus, He is truth. Our lives should be radically focused on conforming our lives to His will. I find it ironic that Jesus worked so hard at giving up political control. When the crowds wanted to make Him an earthly king, Jesus fled. I don’t infer that Christians should negate all political involvement. We should be active, aware, and vote, but at the very least Jesus’s example reminds us that political power will never solve the real issues.

Why wasn’t Jesus more political? His aim was higher. His aim was eternal. Politics was beneath Him, some pun intended. He knew that heart change was the building block for transforming a society. Jesus was and is building His Church and hell won’t prevail against her. By the time societal issues reach the political level the true battleground has likely been seceded.

Fundamentalism has been a strong cultural current since the Scopes Monkey Trial (July 1925). There was another resurgence in the 1980’s with the Moral Majority. I bring those up simply to indicate two watershed moments in which vocal Christian movements made a concerted effort to win the culture through political power. By some standards they did. But what has happened since is staggering. Organized religion in the U.S. has continued to decline while the number of nones (no religious affiliation) has doubled. Currently, 35% of all 18–29-year-olds have no religious affiliation.[1] That’s compared to 9% that classified themselves as nones in 2003.

So here we are in 2025. The current administration can impact our society positively just like the others before. It can also impact our society negatively just like the others before. I pray the good outweighs the bad. Every administration is full of humans so it will be a mixed bag. Both the Republican and Democratic parties seem to straddle enough Judeo-Christian principles for those who adhere to their system to make a case. I would humbly suggest that both parties are also ripe with very non-Judeo-Christian principles. It doesn’t make them intrinsically good or bad, it makes them a human system.

Here's my humble perspective. We are Christians whom God has appointed to live in the United States of America. Some have earthly citizenship here, but Jesus followers are more accurately defined by our citizenship in God’s Kingdom. A royal priesthood that currently lives in exile from our permanent home. We love and serve as citizens of this country, but we can only pledge allegiance to One. We must proceed through this life with wisdom, and it comes from above. We keep our sight on Jesus and bend our lives to the Book. We conform our life to His even when it doesn’t fully fit within a particular human system. If we’re really following Jesus, this tension should happen often. The world is relentless in getting us to conform to its systems but that isn’t our charge. We are citizens of God’s Kingdom and His ambassadors. We bring with us the hope of the Gospel.

20Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ! 21He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. Philippians 3:20-21

[1] Church Attendance Has Declined in Most U.S. Religious Groups, Gallup Survey, March 2024.