I’m a fairly apolitical person. I know the necessity of government and the importance of personal involvement in the political process. The difficulty I encounter is multi-faceted:

  1. Almost all politicians paint issues in broad black and white strokes, when almost all issues are layered and complex affecting different people at different levels
  2. The current environment is polarized. If you agree with one thing someone says, it is assumed you agree with everything that is said. (I have respect for and agree with a good number of Obama’s policies, but I have a strong dislike for some of them as well… there seems to be no room for this in today’s America: you are either completely for or completely against.)
  3. I am a sovereigntist (sometimes referred to as Calvinism… but I even avoid that label due to misunderstanding and other baggage) – I believe very much that God is in control and nothing on this earth happens outside of His knowledge and direct influence.
  4. In a very real way, I recognize my “dual-citizenship” in this wonderful country of ours and the more glorious and eternal Kingdom of God. My ultimate allegiance is to my King and Savior; therefore, my involvement in politics is always colored by this fact.*
  5. I feel like my Democrat friends are doing far more to further the will and mission of God then my Republican friends. This is difficult because most of my Democrat friends do not claim Christ and yet they show more concern and love for the disenfranchised and hurting in our city… and not just in words, but in determined action.
  6. I struggle to show Christ in the midst of people who care and fight more than I do as I often feel like it would be hypocritical to attempt to do so when I struggle to care as they do. My good friends who are involved (and have gotten me involved) in so many Montopolis and city organizations are people of great passion and many of them work tirelessly for the people of this neighborhood and the city as a whole. I have nothing but the greatest respect for them.

So, I continue to work and to fight and to pray that God would grow within me a passion for the people of this city that mirrors His own. Nobody loves more than He does. Nobody can outdo Him for His willingness to fight for the disenfranchised and the hurting. My King, Jesus Christ, lived His passion among us by spending time with and loving the criminal, the poor, the beggars, and the disenfranchised without ignoring the rest. He eschewed comfort so that He could more effectively live among those who needed Him the most. Yes, the culture is different and, no, Jesus did not advocate an ascetic or Franciscan existence – but He did call me to love as He loves while preaching the Good News: Jesus came to take those who are dead in their sin and make them alive in Him by revealing the Truth – that we were made for God’s glory and our greatest joy is knowing and serving Him, but we desperately need to be reconciled by Christ before that is even possible. One beautiful part of serving God is that we also have the great privilege of being useful here on earth by sharing His love with others and serving Him by serving all with passion and humility.

I haven’t the foggiest idea how to do this, but I know that I must… so forward I strive, trusting in His grace and power to pave and light the way. May I be a blessing to all those who know me – not for my fame, but for His.

*This can freak some people out as it sounds like I’m listening to some disembodied imaginary friend who could lead me to perform some act of violence for the sake of “god” – well, I can only say to those folk… you obviously don’t know me and you most certainly don’t know of the God of Whom I speak. He doesn’t need my help to exercise wrath; and, in fact, He calls me to be an instrument of His grace, not His sword.