I Second the Motion

“When you are determined in going a certain direction, it is quite possible

that God would step aside and second your motion.”

--Ravi Zacharias

I have never in my life cried over an election season or an actual election. Until 2016. I have done a lot of thinking as to why I have felt so strongly about this particular one. Political policies aside, I didn’t have, as many others did, a strong affinity for Mrs. Clinton. I will be honest and admit that I did have a very strong aversion to Mr. Trump, mainly because of the horrific and vile things that came out of his own mouth. I actually do not completely adhere politically with one party or the other. But, although I have deep concern, I am not (as I have seen many Republican friends of mine so beautifully say on social media) “butt hurt” that Mr. Trump won.

You know what has bothered me the very most about this election?

Christians.

Yes, I am a Christian. And I know that all other Christians are my brothers and sisters in Christ, having been adopted into the same spiritual family. I also know, logically, that even in a flesh-and-blood family everyone doesn’t see eye-to-eye on everything, 100% of the time. Disagreement and debate are healthy, a breeding ground for growth and deeper understanding of one another. Right?

Here’s the rub for me. I am okay if we disagree on policies that are best for our civic lives. We are going to be alright if we can’t come to a consensus on what should happen fiscally or with small businesses or the problem of healthcare costs.

But if we aren’t unified when it comes to who we are as followers of Christ and children of God?

We have a problem.

And THAT very thing is what tears at my heart and grieves me.

I learned a little song in church when I was young, and it went like this:

“Beloved, let us love one another (love one ano-o-ther), for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not (clap-clap-clap), knoweth not God, for God is love (God is love). Beloved, let us love one another, First John four seven-and-eight!”

Let us love one another.

God is love.

Later in the same chapter, the apostle John says, “We love because HE first loved US. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”

Ouch. If we say one thing and then do another, we are liars.

Think this through with me.

IF God is love (and I think we would all say that He is)…

And IF His Spirit is alive within us as believers (which we agree upon)…

Then shouldn’t the world be able to see God in us because of the lavish, indiscriminate love we pour out onto others?

Do we only love those who think like we do, live just like we do, and believe just like we do?

…Because I don’t see that mandate anywhere in Scripture. In fact, Jesus sought out and explicitly chased after those whom the religious people of His day shunned…

Do we only love those who make us feel better about ourselves?

What are we telling the world around us when we condone and champion the antithesis of this love?

Are we telling the world that Christian = Republican? Or Christian = Democrat?

Are we telling those around us that it doesn’t really matter what someone who is hired to work for us says or does, as long as that person alleges alignment with us politically?

I am worried for us as a body, as a family.

I worry that we have set up many idols to worship:

Our opinions,

Our political affiliations,

Evangelicalism,

Westernized/Americanized Christianity,

Our denominations,

Our personal beliefs,

What our so-called leaders – whether behind pulpits, lecterns, or teleprompters – tell us  

to believe/think,

Our standard of living,

Our color,

Our nation.

How are non-believers supposed to flock to our Good News, when we don’t even know who we are?

**NEWSFLASH!!!**

HERE IS WHO WE ARE

We are fallen and broken.

We are ALL (Jew, Gentile, black, white, brown, American, African, Russian, Mexican, Baptist,

Episcopalian, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, and so on and so forth) in desperate

need of a Savior.

We are ALL (gay, straight, academician, student, mother, child, homeless, poor, rich, annoying,

tolerable, marcher, peaceful protestor, rioter, and so on and so forth) recklessly loved

by a God that none of us have seen.

But, as John says, we do have the possibility of seeing one another. Can we? Can we really recognize and SEE the Imago Dei in the person who is so incredibly different from us? Can we also recklessly love those people?

I don’t see Jesus tell the lawyer in the Gospel of Luke:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself, as long as he or she agrees with you and lives the same lifestyle you do and believes the same things you do, and, and, and…”

He says, “Love your neighbor.” PERIOD.

What is love, if we are never challenged by actually doing it?

It is easy to love those who are like us. What if God calls us to more?

I am so upset that we can’t get this one simple thing right. We are unbelievably caught up in hateful memes and calling names and sharing pictures of a white Jesus carrying suitcases proclaiming He is “moving back into the White House”, as if He EVER promised our nation sovereignty among nations. We are so distracted. And our enemy is having a heyday with it.

We need to wake up, Church. It is time we looked into who Jesus really is and what He really called us to do.

Otherwise, I fear God will leave us to our devices and second our motion to have exactly what we want and therefore deserve.