Sometimes I fear the divisiveness of American politics has been creeping into the body of Christ. It scares me. I am going to be honest and say that I fear it being something that will eventually cause a major division, and it probably is already doing so.
I see posts on social media from Christians making sweeping, and insulting statements about the party opposite them. And all I can think of are the incredible, God-fearing, and loving people on either side of those party lines whom I look up to, and the things they do for the Kingdom of God.
Our absolute FIRST priority, as Christians is to Christ and His church. One of the things that I have come to love about the body of Christ as I have grown is how much love there is despite different backgrounds, cultures, and ideals.
However, there is a chasm opening up, and I am not sure why people aren't seeing it. And I wonder how much it will become our undoing.
The obsession with Republican-Democratic politics is permeating everything, it seems. People hold so fast their parties and political ideals. They equate THEIR party, THEIR way of thinking as the only way, and woe to anyone who dare disagree with them about how to run an earthly nation.
One question I want to ask is this: as tightly as you are holding on to your political ideals, are you holding onto Christ even harder? Are you allowing the law of God's love to falter in the name of Politics? Are you weighing each careless word about someone who disagrees with you? Do you realize the power of those words and what they can do? (James 3:6)
The only WAY, ladies and gentlemen, is Christ. Everything else after that greatly pales in comparison.
Let me get even more honest here.
The way our economy is run is not going to matter in heaven. God has promised His followers that He would take care of and provide for them, no matter their circumstance. And that should be our main focus. You don't need to have massive amounts of stuff or money to do that. Then, we as the Church use those blessings to help others. If you get super worried about what the economy is going to do under so and so, I think you may be hanging your hope on people instead of God. (Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 12:22-32)
A wall is a wall. Defense is defense. There are many reasons why either side supports or doesn't support the wall. I'm not going to debate those points here. However, I am going to say this: security and defense, like the economy is earthly. There are so many ways to go about doing that, and wall or no, we can still have really good national defense.
If we become so laser focused on that one point about why we should or should not have one, and allow our OPINIONS of that to cause strife within the body of Christ, then we seriously need to step back and consider our priorities. Is national security important? Absolutely, not saying it isn't. However, if that ideal becomes greater than our evangelism and care for our fellow brothers and sisters, and even those in the world, then I'd say you'd have a problem there.
I could go on and on about various political beliefs, but I think you get the picture.
As Christians, we need to exercise great wisdom. In a world where Satan is using Politics to divide, you better believe he is going to try and use the same tactic in the Church! And why wouldn't he? When you want to destroy a community or a relationship, you look for weak points, fissures, disagreements and amplify them, until they implode. Disagreements saddled with pride and ego are one of the quickest routes to destruction.
Be wise about what you say or choose to involve yourself in. The world is watching us. If, within the church, we allow our political ideologies to wound and divide one another, we are making politics our idol. It is a dangerous game to try and fuse man-made ideals and market them as God's law. It is adding to the word of God, which we are implicitly commanded not to do. (Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19) Anytime we do this, we cheapen God's word, and in turn, makes His church look like a joke to those on the outside. Why in the world would people want to join something that is just as divided and hateful as the world around them? And, more importantly, how do you think that makes Jesus feel when the name of His bride is marred in such a way?
"Love one another, for love is of God. He who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God. For God is love." (1 John 4:7-8).
We have to be careful of the messages we send to the world. As much as it depends on you, do NOT be the reason someone chooses to refuse God.
Don't misunderstand. It is not wrong to have opinions. We all have them. But if we allow those opinions to cause us to say or do things that could cause divisions within the body of Christ, we have crossed a huge line. (John 17:21, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17) May God give us wisdom to always strive for our words and our actions to better lead others to the love God wants to share with them. Close the gap, cross that bridge, and be a light in a world where division is so prominent.
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