My Post Election Thoughts and Prayer
Not to demean the words of Jesus, but… “It is finished.” Or is it? As Christians, no matter who received our vote, there is one more task that is necessary for many of us…if not most of us. The remaining task has two components, confession and repentance. How many of us shared an email or a Facebook post that discredited the other side’s candidate, yet we knew that it was based upon a phrase taken completely out of context? And don’t point at some other person and say, “Yes, s/he did that.” I’m inviting you to be confessional and seek repentance for what you may have done in the same way I need to be confessional and repent.
Personally, I didn’t pass on a single email during this election process, but I did ‘Like’ a few Facebook posts that I knew were a bit of a stretch. But what troubled me the most were the good Christian people who shared emails and Facebook posts that were blatant lies. At what point did we begin believing that the Jesus story taught us that the end justified the means. Let me clarify, the Jesus story teaches us just the opposite…the means should embody our desired end. And just because you saw it on Fox News (the mouth piece of the Republican Party) or MSNBC (the mouth piece of the Democratic Party) doesn’t mean it was true. Do some creative research before sharing an article, because if it seemed rather outlandish, it probably was.
The other troubling issue was the use of scripture to convince people why they should vote for one candidate over another, yet almost every time I saw such emails or Facebook posts, the use of scripture was shamefully dishonest and exploitive. Don’t take four or five words out of context to defend your agenda! The issue within this political campaign that scripture could most sharply critique is the amount of money spent by both campaigns and other outside groups.
Again, I’m not asking you to point out the failure of someone else. I am only asking you to consider whether or not you need to confess and repent. Confession is an honesty with oneself before God, and repentance is the conscious choice to turn around and to make a real change. We will be back around four years from now, and I hope Christians can set a better example of how political elections can be honest and respectful amidst their differing opinions.
I invite you to join me in a time of confession and repentance…
God, walk with me as I honestly look at myself and how I have acted through this election process. Let me not judge others or pick at the speck in my neighbors eye, when there is a massive log in my own eye. And may your grace, God, not only bring a change within me, but through me, a change within our national attitude toward how we do politics. Amen.
