I would not dream of missing this once-every-4-year opportunity to comment on something as gargantuan as our new democratically elected president and his vice president, but first….a story!

Yesterday morning at approximately 6 AM I was waiting on a cup of coffee at Starbucks when a 19 year old young man whom I had never met looked me dead in the eye and said, “Well, I guess Jesus is coming back now!”  Of course he meant that since Obama was elected, this was going to start the catastrophic events leading to the End of Days.  My response was, “I am pretty sure Jesus was already coming back before last night’s election.”  He said, “Yeah, but now He will come back WAY SOONER, the book of Revelation says so.”  I just so happened to have my Bible in my hand (I was on my way to preach) and handed it to him so he could show me WHERE the Bible said that.  He evidently was not as adept at Bible scholarship and interpretation as he assumed he was.

When I arrived at the small Liberal Arts Baptist college where I was preaching, the buzz was evident, and there was a group of students that had been awaiting my arrival so that I could “straighten everyone out” about the election and the new president.  I took this as an invitation to make a few points.  Here they are.

1.  My loyalty is to Jesus Christ and His kingdom FIRST.  My faith and hope is in Him, and if we have learned anything from the past 8 years, it should be this: The most outspoken evangelical president perhaps in history was unable to outlaw abortion, gay marriage, or put prayer back in public schools (all the things a good Christian president should do, I guess).  If he could not do it, even with a like-minded majority for his first 6 years in office in Congress…then these things will never happen by political means, but rather when people’s hearts change through the gospel and their worldview follows, creating grass roots change first and then national change ultimately.

2.  God is bigger and stronger than any prince, king or president, and the scriptures tell us that He can turn the heart of a king like the banks of a river turn the river’s tide.  Will we dedicate ourselves to praying for Obama and Biden and their administration?  Are we really THAT opposed to abortion, gay marriage, and the supposed slide to godlessness that a new adminstration may bring (sorry, I have been reading too many blogs about this)?  If I am not willing to pray daily for my leaders with the same fervor with which I supported one or fought against the other, then I am a hypocrite.

3.  Benjamin Franklin said that in a true democracy, the people will always get the leaders they deserve.  If we are unhappy with local or national politics, then let’s work harder at local levels, and ask God if He is calling us to make a difference nationally one day, and in the meantime, let’s proclaim THE GOSPEL.  Because that is THE ONLY HOPE for the human race. 

For 2 GREAT reflections on the election, 2 of my best friends on earth have something to say.  You should read these.

www.perrynoble.com

www.jdgreear.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 4:50 pm and is filed under Blog Post. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.