Love and Politics

I hope you don’t mind my sharing some very personal thoughts with you. Because the subject is touchy. Especially with elections coming up.

During a recent happy gathering, I heard a dear friend–one whom I love and respect–blurt out with vehemence, “I hate (she named a politician)!” It took me by complete surprise. Not that she expressed dislike, but actually said she hated the person.

And she’s not alone.

Gone are the days when voters discussed the issues, worked hard to support the candidate of their choice, but then gracefully accepted the outcome at the polls. Back then, I was proud of our country, its electoral process, and its citizens. Personally, I’d like to see us return to those upright and gracious times when we might hate the policies of a candidate or elected official, but we didn’t hate the person.

As Christians, we are called by God to love others, even if we disagree with them, even if we believe that what they choose to do might harm us. If Jesus could hang on a cruel cross and still say, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” should we do less? He not only entrusted his life to his Father in heaven, but he forgave and prayed for his enemies on earth.

Am I trying to preach to you? Absolutely not! But I do want to remind myself of the excellence of gracious Christian love we are called live in the name of Jesus.

How about you? What are your thoughts regarding “Christian love and politics”?

Wednesday, September 17th, 2014     4 Comments
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4 Comments

    The Conversation

  1. Susan M. Baganz says:
    September 17, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    I can confess to sometimes holding strong opinions politically but I try not to be that strong in vocalizing them because Scripture commands us to pray for those in leadership and Jesus didn’t give us the out “if they agree with you” mantra. I’ve sat down with people on opposite sides of the fence to hear their reasons why they support someone (or not). Not to persuade them to my side of the aisle but because they need to know I care. I don’t even have to share my perspective although I could if asked. But it’s not a competition to see who can outshout or outconvince the other person. Ultimately it is about loving one another and when we lose that for the sake of something that only God is ultimately in control of, then it doesn’t matter who is in power, we’ve already lost the bigger war. We need to remember whoever is in office (city, state or federal), Jesus is still King and in charge.

  2. Beth Ziarnik says:
    September 17, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    I totally agree. Susan. Thanks for weighing in on the topic.

  3. Susan Kinney says:
    September 20, 2014 at 4:21 pm

    Hi Beth! I’ve been more focused on the fact that we need to pray for those in authority over us. I listened to David Barton’s DVD’s and discovered we in America have a wonderful heritage. Christian values were in-bedded into our Constitution. Among all nations we are truly blessed. We sure do need to get back to those old time values and pray for those who fight or don’t fight for our freedoms regardless…

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