There has to be balance. There is a fatalism that simply shrugs when Rome’s imperial army is parked outside Jerusalem’s door. The destruction of the city in 70 AD was plenty bad. On the other hand, there are those who mourn and bemoan over every bit of God’s providence as if He somehow were taking a nap. Bad things are truly bad things. All things are truly God things. Yeah and amen to both says I.
The question each one of us needs to ask ourselves is this- which error are we more prone to? If you’ve been hiding under your covers since last Wednesday, you’re probably in the latter category. If you’ve been going about your daily routine while joyfully channeling your inner Doris Day singing “Que Sera, Sera” you’re probably in the former category.
Those who are prone to be accused of being Christian nationalists, who spent more time and energy the past four years talking about the President than the king of kings are more likely to be, right now, officers in the Chicken Little club. Those who are prone to be accused of being Wokey McWokerson, who spent more time and energy the past four years distancing themselves from their conservative evangelical peers than they did trying to bring the lost into the kingdom are more likely to be the ones voted, “Most likely to rat out Christians to the thought police.”
Before, however, we can get the log out of our own eyes we first need to stop looking for the speck in our brothers’ eyes. That is, conservatives need to stop suggesting that those who are not as panicked as they are aren’t really concerned, while those more lefty need to stop suggesting that those who aren’t as giddy as they are about the next four years somehow are denying God’s sovereignty. Not everyone who never heard of OAN or Infowars is therefore a card-carrying member of the Communist party. Not everyone who has heard of OAN or Infowars takes off his white sheet each evening before putting on his tinfoil nightcap. There’s nobody here but us regular people. And we all get better when we all worry more about ourselves than everyone else.
There is, at the end of the day, more damage that Joe Biden can do to this country, to my neighbors, to the redeemed by Christ than I ever could. Not because I’m morally superior, but because I’m power inferior. On the other hand, there is more good that I can do for my own sanctification than the President can do for my sanctification. It starts here- when I realize that whatever prophetic calling I might have, whatever justice I might be called to fight for, whatever my role is in discipling the nations, my greater calling is for me to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. To butcher an old Jesus People song, “Let there be obedience on earth, and let it begin with me.” The monster I’m called to slay, the one I have been given the power to slay, is the one whose face I see each time I shave. Politics matters. Genuine evil still comes out of the swamp. But the swamp inside me is mine, the one inside you yours. Let’s beseech the Spirit that He would lead us to drain them all.
