CHBC Connect for November 8, 2024
Salvation by Electoral College?
If you regularly read the newsletter, you know that I am typically emphasizing some portion of our purpose, mission, or vision. I think that it is necessary for me to do that, so we keep our focus on the right things. My only regret is that not every member reads those articles every week. Not because they are so well written, but because of the lostness of our world, and the mission drift of the church are both realities we should keep before us.
But as the title of today’s article suggests, I have a different focus on my mind. We have just finished what seems like one of the longest and most contentious political seasons in my own lifetime. The first election I remember was when Jimmy Carter won the presidency in 1976 and started his term in 1977. So, my personal political history is not as lengthy as some of yours might be, but it is substantial in that it covers more than forty years.
As we come to the close of this current political cycle it is a good time to reflect on what we need to know and how to prepare for the next one, if Jesus has not returned by then. Universities and private high schools were giving allowance to students on the day following the election to have mental health days. They were so concerned about election anxiety that they thought the students might need a break. Anxiety and depression are on meteoric rise in our culture. The numbers are staggering across the board. And the experts saw the election as one more source of adding to anxiety to such an extent that institutions thought people might not be able to function.
Can I add just a smidge of Biblical perspective about the election? Without a doubt there were people who went to bed on Tuesday night feeling distress, a loss of hope, and with great anxiety about the future of their country. There were others that went to bed on Tuesday night with a great deal of optimism, a sense of hope, and a feeling of security they have not known for the last four years.
If either of those describe you, can I suggest that you might want to ask yourself whether you are putting your trust in God, who is both good and sovereign, or if you have been putting your trust in elections, candidates, parties, or political identity. Now, caring about political outcomes is not sinful. We should care enough to be prayerful and engaged appropriately and responsibly in civic duties. We should be informed and knowledgeable about matters of our society morally, economically, socially, and politically. We should act in responsible ways to see laws passed and representatives elected which will further the flourishing of the country we live in. Knowing what is best for a whole country is complicated and people from all kinds of backgrounds can have good ideas and good motives. Determining which politician to vote for and which measures or laws will be best for us ought to be complicated, because the issues are complicated.
Let me be clear. I think we should care about what is happening and we should advocate for people and law which will support the best possible results for people who live in that nation. And I think ideally, those people and laws will reflect well Biblical standards. But pastorally, I must caution us.
The caution comes regarding where our hope lies. If we are so stressed by the outcome of an election that we lose hope, live in fear, or despair over the future; If we suddenly find hope, meaning, happiness, or significance because of the outcome of an election; we must pause and ask if we have made an idol out of politics, candidates, or government. Caring about the outcomes are not idolizing. But anything that provides for us hope, happiness, security, or significance other than God has become an idol.
Remember that God is the source of all good gifts. James 1:17-18 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.” Be grateful for all that He provides that is for our good.
And remember that God is sovereign. Bear in mind what Isaiah has said in Isaiah 45:6-7,
“That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun
That there is no one besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
7 The One forming light and creating darkness,
Causing well-being and creating calamity;
I am the Lord who does all these.”
I want you to care deeply about this world and our existence in it. And I want you to trust God profoundly above all things. Sleep well after every election and its outcome. Not because the results may fit with what you think to be good for our nation, but because you rest in the care of a sovereign, perfect, powerful, loving, and good God.
By His Grace, and For His Glory,
Pastor Mark
