Pastor’s Perspective – November 2024
By the time you read this article, the 2024 election either be imminent or completed. I write this without knowledge of October surprises or election outcomes, but I write with the opinion that regardless of what will happen in November, controversy will surround it.
I believe that whoever wins will find their legitimacy contested by the other side. The inability of our politicians and their spokespeople in the media to agree upon even the most objective realities of human biology and evidentiary facts, has proven to reasonable people that they are incapable of viewing the world outside of their partisan lens.
The question is, what can the church do about it? What should the people of God do when the world around them has become unhinged?
The first thing that the people of God should do is to pray. Pray for the nation and our leaders, every day. Pray that God will take the misshaped clay that is our national life and mold it into a something wonderful. God has worked with bad raw material in the past (I’m looking at you Peter and Paul). Leaders can be moved, persuaded, and, yes, transformed, and this is all within the providence of God. A prayerful posture is the evidence that we believe that God is more powerful and authoritative than any political party or nation.
The second step will be to speak prophetically. While many people see prophecy as predictive, it is more accurate to recognize that prophecy declares the word of God to the people. Prophecy is perhaps most significant amid devastating political moments, such as the destruction of Israel and Judah by the hands of enemy (and pagan) nations. The voice of the prophets declares injustices and calls people to repentance, and when all seems lost, the prophets remind people that God will one day redeem us from the pit.
So, let’s be prophetic in our declarations and pronouncement. We serve a crucified God, who understands the difficulty and evil that we must endure through our lives. But Jesus was not just crucified, we also serve a God of resurrection. A God that will never abandon us. A God who hears the voice of the loser, exile, slave, and sinner. A God that understands the injustice of our world and loves us so much that Jesus was sent to set us free. Jesus endured the cross of Rome and defeated sin and death itself.
God is with us. So, before you join the screaming masses on either side of the aisle, make sure that you’ve prayed. Make sure that instead of reacting to the world and joining your voices with the cacophony of those who are complaining that you will link arms instead with the body of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
As Charles Albert Tinney reminds us in “I’ll Overcome Some Day.”
A thousand snares are set for me,
And mountains in my way;
If Jesus will my leader be,
I’ll overcome some day.
Do not be overwhelmed. Love God and your neighbor as yourself. And when you fell the desire to be an ambassador for the red or blue, remember that our King is Jesus.
Pastor Dan
Recent Comments