Polarization

So yesterday I posted this meme I created to my Facebook page.

I meant nothing political. In truth it was a reaction and a reminder to myself. I see things on a regular basis on the news that frustrate and or terrify me. I get frustrated and aggravated, and at times I am really tempted to lash out, speaking the truth while jettisoning the love. This is not God’s command. His command is to speak the truth in love and if I can’t do both, silence is the better move. I was reminding myself and maybe a few others that if we really want to fix things, that is done with the Gospel not with politics. My calling is to share the simple truth of the Gospel not to delve into the convoluted mess of politics.

My politics are what they are. There are a few issues that loom large in my heart and mind and they were my reasons for voting the way I voted. The politicians for the most part gave lip service to my issues and got very little done, and I became disillusioned. I still vote, trying to put the best people forward as I see it, but more often than not, I am holding my nose and trying to pick the lesser of two evils, once again I am disillusioned. The reality is the political choice will always be between two evils because all politicians are sinful humans just like me, which in case you missed the not so subtle inference means I am not saying I could do any better. The temptations thrown at politicians are huge and they all need our prayers.

I’ve slowly begun to realize something I should have known all along. I live in a nation that elects its leaders. The leadership looks like the people they represent. If we are dissatisfied with the way our government looks and works, the key to making changes is to chance the populace. Changing the populace is not the job of the government. It’s the job of the Church. If we want a government that follows Jesus, we need a nation that follows Jesus and the only people who can really point people to Jesus and show them how to follow Jesus are the people who follow Jesus. The first step in all of this is that we need to follow Jesus ourselves. If you want a government that looks like Jesus, the first step is to introduce your neighbor to Jesus, not some political rally where we try to pick the lesser of two evils. If we want to fix the world, it doesn’t start with the democrats or the republicans, it starts with the one who fixed me. That is where I place my faith.

The nation is polarized. I see it in small ways nearly every time I post something related to this in social media. I have a few friends who constantly try to drag these kinds of posts into the realm of politics. The temptation is to enter the fray and take a stand for whoever I consider to be the lesser of two evils at the moment. All that does is add to the noise and do my small part in increasing the polarization. As it stands right now if this polarization continues, the end result will be people taking up arms against each other. We’ve already seen inklings of that across the nation in recent years. The way to fix the mess we’re in is to bring in the only One who can fix it. We who know Jesus must share Jesus. We who have been given creative gifts must creatively lead the charge and we further need to stay above the fray and stay on message, the message of the Gospel.