I can’t even begin to tell
you how much I despise an election year—I know, I know, it is a very
unpatriotic thing to say, and believe me, and I am a ‘tear up whenever I sing the
National Anthem’ kinda girl—I love this country. I typically keep my political opinions to
myself, because they are, in fact, just my opinion. I wonder how many people
really care about another person’s political beliefs. I’m not asking this
rhetorically—I am curious if there are people out there who truly want to hear
what other people think concerning politics.
Or is it a passive aggressive way of getting a chance to say your own opinions?
My biggest
pet peeve is cutting political jokes/cartoons, and slanted “facts” that are
anything but and so extremist in point.
I cannot find a single benefit in these types of forwards and emails and
Facebook posts. Maybe I’m a
stick-in-the-mud, but the chances of offending someone you care deeply about
with opposite views of yours (even if they don’t as boisterously portray them)
seems too high a price to pay at the expense of passing on what someone may or
may not find funny. Even the jokes that are slanted in favor of my particular
partisan party I find highly offensive. Why? Because they are not edifying. (Ephesians
4:29) If I’m guarding my heart and my
tongue to say things that build up others that I know, why would it be okay to
let that slide when it comes to strangers that we don’t agree with?
And even if I didn’t feel all
of the above thoughts, I return to the
big picture of why I was left here on this earth July 7, 1977 (the day I became
a follower of Christ). It wasn’t to sway people in their political beliefs or
(even as patriotic as I am being part of a family who has served on the front
lines in a way) trying to help facilitate/promote America to become the
greatest nation on earth. God left me here with a very specific purpose in
writing in Matthew 28; “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.” I feel overwhelmed at my efforts to do
this one task He has given me in addition to being a
wife/mom/daughter/friend/sister/mentor/leader/teacher that glorifies Him.
I have no energy left for political discourse personally, though I know it is a
passion for some and I’m not saying they are wrong. What I am saying though, is
two things; 1. if political fervor ever takes place in a Christian’s mind/energy/amount
of time spent on it takes precedent over the Great Commission, whether
consciously or unconsciously, then it is wrong—anything that comes ahead of Christ
is an idol, and 2. I have never, ever heard of a person being won to Christ
through political debates or cutting jokes/cartoons sent about a politician,
whether the person on the receiving end supports said politician or not. So
then, what would the motivation be? I can’t personally see how it could glorify
God.
So, what if you find yourself
in the position of not liking the person that holds the office of
President? My thoughts are, even if we
don’t support the person in office, I feel there is a respect that the office
itself is due and we should “give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” (Luke 20:25).
If that means I can’t find anything positive to say, then I remain silent and
pray. In a historical sense, I think
back to our nation right after the Civil War was fought. In name we were one
nation, the United States of America. But in reality, we weren’t. There was so much hurt and bitterness and
anger leftover as remnants of that bloody war and we were as divided as our
nation has probably ever been. It took
years of slowly moving through generations for that pain to lessen, and there
are still indelible effects from the mid 1800’s that will forever be etched as
scars on our nation. Shouldn’t we learn
from history so that negative history doesn’t repeat itself? Not much good came
from that chasm. Once the war was
decided, what kind of difference would it have made in the healing of our
nation if the people of the South asked God to help them deal with the pain of
loss and learn how to move forward in a way that was productive and
healing? What if the people of the North
had come to the aid of their brothers in the South, not in a carpetbagger kind
of way (of-course there were good carpetbaggers, we just rarely hear of them),
but in a true sense of camaraderie and desire to help rebuild? I know, I’m an idealist, but how different would
our nation be today I wonder? It would’ve
required selflessness on both sides and a character of deep quality—a difficult
but not unattainable goal. Moving onto
the politics of this day in history, how different would our nation be if Republicans,
Democrats, and everything in-between spoke with respect of each other’s beliefs. Social media has many upsides, but a huge
downside is the seeming anonymity of “speaking your mind”. Those are people reading your thoughts and scathing words and “jokes”—people
that deserve respect. “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the
most of every opportunity. Let your conversations be always full of grace,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians
4:5-6 AND “Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear
God, honor the emperor.” 1 Peter2:17
I am such a Pollyanna though,
and I know that. I would love to hear your thoughts. In an edifying way. ;-)
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