"Politicked," reprised

What an awesome day it is today! I'm loving the inauguration coverage.

Anytime you have a change of the guard it's an opportunity for new things.

It reminds me of what I wrote when I first started blogging. If you haven't read them yet, check out my first posts: "Politicked," parts one & two.

"Politicked," part two

I really am getting excited about next year … everywhere I turn, it’s commentary on politics. It will be cool, come January, to have the first African-American president in the USA. A living, breathing embodiment of our melting-pot nation.

But most of the conflict I witness is Republic/conservative vs. Democrat/liberal. Even today I read a blog about why Donald Miller voted for Obama, and the comments people left even called his salvation into question because of his vote.
Is it just me, or do you hear this kind of attack and counter-attack too? I hear Christians on both sides of the party debate, although generally I hear it said that you can’t be a good Christian and a Democrat. Apparently in his day, Jesus and the disciples voted Republican. I guess when he comes back he will again.

Here’s a quote I found from a famous Christian author writing to conservatives about their conflict with liberals from way back in the day:

Don’t forget that you used to be outsiders too. You lived in the world without God and without hope. Christ himself has made peace between us by making us all one people. He has broken down the wall of hostility that used to separate us. By his death he ended the whole system that excluded people. His purpose was to make peace by creating in himself one new person from different groups. …Our hostility toward each other has been put to death! Now all of us may come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Can you guess who the author was? It was Paul, writing to the Ephesians about how Jews and Gentiles wanted to rip each other apart and that their division only damaged their hearts and denied Christ. He said this all in Ephesians two, verses eleven through fourteen in the NLT.

What do you think? Does it apply today too?

“Politicked"

Most of my friends and family are conservative Christians, and most of them did not vote for Obama. Some of the fundamentalists at the family fringes are pretty despondent about the election results. You know, I’m actually really excited to see what the democrats do … here’s their chance. They’ve got the Senate, the House and the President. And since my hope’s not in politics, I’m not worried about liberal government at all, I’m just curious to see what they do with this chance.

I think it’s very sad that peeps have put their hope in the US being a “Christian” nation. I get it, since I used to be the same, but then when I understood about Jesus and started to care about people’s hearts, all that political concern just fell away from me. Laws don’t change people’s hearts. They don’t save their marriages, they don’t rescue their children. They don’t heal their hearts.

Just like the Old Testament law. It protected the people and pointed them to God, true. But it didn’t save them. Morality didn’t save them, their relationship with God saved them.
The truth is, eliminating abortion in the US would not save the world. Even ending poverty wouldn’t save the world. Because morality isn’t the hope of the world. Only Jesus is the hope of the world. I want to be known for what I’m for – Jesus – not known for what I’m against.
After all, politics is culture, and culture never saved anyone.