In case you haven’t heard, Americans are electing a president soon. It’s all over news outlets, social media, and even Christian blogs and publishing houses. Amidst all the hype, I—like many others—am concerned by what seem to be a number of poor steps by many of God’s people. Despite my fears of adding to the cacophony of cynicism, I feel the need to point out one of those shortcomings—not to discourage the Church, but rather to ultimately encourage us with a vision of a greater hope for political efficacy. As I survey the political landscape of our churches (with an albeit limited vision), I can’t help but think about 1 Samuel 8.
Near the end of Samuel’s life, he appointed his sons to lead the people of Israel, but unfortunately his sons “perverted justice.” In response, the elders of Israel came to Samuel with a different solution: they wanted a king “such as all the other nations have.” God told Samuel to warn the people of the dangers of a king; it wouldn’t be all that they hoped for. Nonetheless, the people insisted.
And in 1 Samuel 8:7 (NIV), God spoke to the root of the issue when he said to Samuel, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” Of course, God redeemed the situation in many ways; it’s impossible to see how Scripture speaks of the kings at points (particularly David) without seeing such. But the warning remains the same: God’s people have a tendency to prioritize visible, worldly forms of power over trust in the power of an Almighty, but invisible, God.
“God’s people have a tendency to prioritize visible, worldly forms of power over trust in the power of an Almighty, but invisible, God.”
Does this sound familiar? While it seems to me that more Christians today are recognizing the shortcomings of both contemporary political parties and their candidates in this election cycle, I’m still concerned that many of our churches, like Israel in 1 Samuel 8, have subconsciously rejected the Lord as our king in search of a more visible leader. We’ve begun to doubt that God can do for our nation what God alone can do, and instead ended up with misplaced hopes in fallible leaders, who often don’t even know God himself.
Out of our misplaced hopes arises an almost unending stream of misplaced words. Beliefs undoubtedly impact behavior, and a belief that places too much significance in one box checked on November 5th leads us to speak with too much significance about how that box ought to be checked. Many of us spend more time convincing our social media followers that our preferred candidate is best than we do convincing our neighbors that Jesus alone can save. We often spend more time thinking about how we might vote than we do thinking about how we might evangelize our neighborhoods, reach our cities, and plant new churches across the nation.
I can’t help but wonder if it isn’t because voting one day each year and moving on with our lives is simply easier. We can check a box and then leave the work to elected officials. Why adopt the orphan when we can vote for a pro-life Republican and already have done our part? Why care for the foreigners in our cities when we can love them from a distance by voting for a Democrat whose policies do it for us? Not that all of us engage in this sort of political hypocrisy, but it certainly is where the currents take us without a purposeful change of course.
“We often spend more time thinking about how we might vote than we do thinking about how we might evangelize our neighborhoods, reach our cities, and plant new churches across the nation.”
And yet, a fundamental and fatal crack exists in the foundation of this type of political engagement. It ought to be rather obvious, but the “king” we elect is not the King of kings. Congress is not the Church. And no political policies, no matter how effective they might be at bringing about justice in our land, can ever free our neighbors from their bondage to sin. Not to mention the fact that it’s hard to get our elected officials to act justly on behalf of our land to begin with if they don’t share a Christian conception of justice.
All of this leads me to my firm conviction: The most effective political move you can make is to persuasively invite someone to give their allegiance to King Jesus. Significantly more powerful than any box that you could check on November 5th, or even political policies which you could lobby for over the next few years (both of which I think can be viable and honorable Christian responses), would be a conversation in which you share the gospel with a non-believer.
I’m not denying that other forms of political engagement might move the needle a bit. But what I am denying is that a more Christian-friendly Washington D.C. will ever make the impact that a genuine spiritual revival will make. At absolute best, voting a particular way might put in place officials who strive for justice on a national level but leave people dead in their sins.
“What I am denying is that a more Christian-friendly Washington D.C. will ever make the impact that a genuine spiritual revival will make.”
But a nation of Christ-exalting, faithfully-living, gospel-sharing disciples of the King will both lead people out of the dominion of darkness and introduce them to the Spirit who will transform their way of living altogether. Voting might, in a small way, put a temporal band-aid over a cancerous heart. Evangelism, however, provides the opportunity for both temporary and eternal change.
The week of November 5th, I’ll be thinking politically as many other Americans will be, including Christians. I’ll also be thinking evangelistically while I’m afraid many other Christians probably won’t. What if this year, before you committed to finding your local polls, designating time away from work, and voting for a candidate, you took the time to make an additional, better commitment? What if you committed to praying for a lost friend, designating time to spend with them, and sharing the gospel of Jesus?
Our citizenship in heaven always trumps our citizenship of the nation-states in which we live. Our allegiance to Jesus always comes before our adherence to the laws of the land. And the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of men always does more for the good of the land than intentionality in public policy. In light of this…what if before you chose which candidate you think will best lead this temporary “kingdom,” you gave focus to how you might convince others to put their allegiance in the true and better King, whose kingdom “shall know no end”?
“What if you committed to praying for a lost friend, designating time to spend with them, and sharing the gospel of Jesus?”
At the end of the day, I’m not at all suggesting that Christians who choose to vote are inherently wrong. I’ve voted before, and I’m sure I’ll vote again. As Chad Ragsdale has pointed out, some of us will choose to vote from a principled stance, and others from a pragmatic stance, and both groups will likely have some theological justification for their approach. Even others of us will choose to abstain from voting altogether, potentially arriving at a different conclusion from the same premises.
Whatever conclusions we reach on November 5—Republican, Democrat, third party, or abstention—let’s not fall into the deception of placing our hopes in an earthly king. As we vote (or abstain from voting), let’s not try and shortcut the work of the Church by outsourcing it to Congress. Instead, let us honor our King by proclaiming his kingdom, inviting others into a hope their political party could never fulfill. It may not be the political move you’ve given much thought toward, and it certainly will cost more than a drive to the polls, but it just might be the one that changes your neighbors’ eternity.
