Now What?

After a day like yesterday, my little words feel insignificant. I scrolled social media in disbelief as I saw pictures of people climbing the capitol building as if we were in a marvel movie gone wrong. Days like yesterday shouldn’t happen and seeing a Jesus flag in the mix of it all broke my heart to the core. Knowing that the church has so closely tied itself to the president, beyond policies, and that so many view him with such hatred I feel like I’m just at a complete loss.

All my life, I’ve wanted to let my friends know that Jesus is not perfectly represented in Christians. I remember crying with friends in high school who had been hurt by the church. I remember sharing the gospel with them and sharing scriptures with them that showed a huge difference between the man of Jesus and the modern American church.

Let me be clear- I love the church. As a worship leader, I’ve fallen more in love with the Bride as I have the honor of leading her to the Bridegroom. When the church rises up in her true identity, there is nothing more beautiful. Jesus loves His church- like a lovesick Groom is captivated by His Bride so is the Lord for His Beloved. But the first 3 chapters of Revelation show us that Jesus isn’t passive when it comes to bringing correction and rebuke to the Church.

The past few years, I’ve become more engaged in politics. My trip to Northern Iraq opened my eyes to the policies that had come under the Trump administration that were actually helping refugees and hurting people groups all over the globe. I had realized that I had been misinformed by the mainstream media outlets I had become accustomed to listening to. I had bought the narrative about Trumps brash personality and insensitive tweets and with it, I had stopped looking at what his administration was actually doing. While I wish the man would get off twitter and cannot wrap my brain around the insensitive things he often says, as far as policies go, I believe he has done a number of incredible things for our nation and for the nations of the world.

That being said, I watched myself fall into something that I saw many in the church fall into this past year. I found myself putting my hope in my political party. I bought a rhetoric of despair around the thought of a democratic controlled government. The fear of losing religious freedom and entering a time of persecution began to grow. The fear of court packing, a rise in socialism, and an overall decrease of freedom became a focal point in my heart. More often or not, I wasn’t praying about it from a place of believing that God had a solution or a plan, but I was praying against those I disagreed with.

I was sitting in the airport a few weeks ago, heading home for Christmas, and I felt like the Lord began to speak to me about all of this, completely out of the blue.

I felt like He began to remind me that the disciples, and most of the Jewish people of His time were expecting the Messiah to be a political ruler who would come and overthrow the Roman Empire. Many people were disappointed when that was NOT what Jesus did. People even tried to get Him to answer their political questions but He gave short answers and moved on- that wasn’t what He was most concerned with.

So what was He most concerned with? First and foremost, loving and glorifying the Father. Second, loving others- typically the most marginalized and outcast people.

If Jesus walked on the scene today would we be looking for Him to save us from people of opposing political views or to heal the sick, raise the dead, and bring hope to the hopeless? 

We know that one day, Jesus will return and every knee will bow and tongue confess…not just those with opposing views. He will come and everything will be overturned. Jesus isn’t returning as a Republican King or a Democratic Lord. He’s coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and all of American history, all of our great documents and leaders, will become but a footnote in His story of eternity.

Your vote in November mattered. I pray you voted your convictions. I honestly hope you voted for righteousness and I believe voting for life is of the utmost importance. I believe it’s important that the Church uses her voice for righteousness and holiness in the land and that we have a duty to vote. But salvation does not come through the government. Do I pray for the overturning of Roe V Wade? Of course. But I’ll also pray for wisdom in loving girls with unplanned pregnancies and supporting foster families. The Church is called to bring the Kingdom of God into every situation no matter the law of the land.

Sadly, we find ourselves asking the painful question of, “Now what?”

Now, we love.

Now, we listen to those that are hurting.

Now, we repent for what we’ve done wrong because we are not without fault.

Now, we remember the calling Jesus gave us- to proclaim the gospel to all people.

Now, we pray and worship and believe that Jesus’ plan will prevail no matter what happens in the political arena.

May we move forward with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the founder and finisher of our faith. He is endlessly worthy of our devotion and allegiance being solely to Him and His Kingdom.