We’ve mentioned in the past that the fundamental predicament of the human condition is isolation. We’re alone; we’ve been alone since we were estranged from God and driven out of the Garden. That’s the predicament, and in response to that we attempt to overcome that isolation by adhering to someone, or something, else. Everybody does it, even “loners.” In isolation loners attempt to deal with aloneness by fixing their attention on something other than people: animals, hobbies, artistic expression, or sheer survival. Most of us attempt relationships with other people in order to overcome this predicament. Intimate relationships with others can take various forms—traditional or otherwise—all in an attempt to counteract this prevailing sense of isolation. If what is considered to be a “normal” relationship isn’t working to bridge the gap then people look for alternatives to deal with their aloneness. And without proper guidance the result can be harmful, even to the point of self-destruction.

Agreed upon ideas can be an important means for dealing with this sense of isolation. People can have absolutely nothing in common and still establish significant bonds with others when the need arises and circumstances demand it. Perceived danger can go a long way to bridging the gap with people, even to the point of entertaining the possibility that the Lord actually exists—remember the old adage: “there are no atheists in foxholes”? But in our secularized culture of modern America the need for God is often ignored or adhered to in a compromised fashion. We may be willing to believe in God but when it comes to the substance of our lives a lot of other things are often looked to for security. And this can lead to a compromised witness. This is a challenge for all of us—I’m speaking to Christians here. We’ve been given so much in this country that the prospect of losing it can be overwhelming, resulting in a posture that does little to support our witness as believers. This is especially evident now with the onset of our election year. I don’t think I’ve witnessed such political turmoil since the 70s and the aftermath of the Nixon administration. What I’m pointing out is that we’ve always had a significant conflict of ideas in our politics—something that goes all the way back to the campaign of 1800 between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. However, the divide this year seems to be excessively belligerent. And it’s not being stabilized by a common faith in the one true God. Nowadays Americans are all over the map when it comes to the source of their personal values; and the result is escalating chaos!

What is a Christian’s responsibility in this environment? We have an obligation to participate in this process…or do we? If we do, how is that supposed to happen? How do we maintain our witness while engaging this political free-for-all? I’m talking about the witness that’s informed by the hard to do facets of belief in, and service to, our Sovereign. Things like: “love your neighbor as yourself.” In this political environment such a challenge like that goes completely against the grain of how politics are currently being conducted. The two big opponents—meaning Democrats and Republicans—are vilifying one another in the extreme. And it’s not just a conflict of ideas that gives fuel to the fire. The atmosphere of political discourse is saturated with lies, exaggerations and half-truths all in an effort to distort the views of opponents in order to establish what is perceived as the right way of doing things. That’s a problem; no one is completely wrong or completely right on any particular issue; and that pertains to everyone including the two major opponents. But in order to win an argument—and an election—focus is leveled at the weaknesses of one another’s positions, to the extent of vilifying them entirely. I’ve never taken a debate class, but I do know that debate, and the oratory associated with it, has been taught and examined for millennia. The difference for Americans in our present circumstances is that the progress of our country has always been informed by our Christian heritage. I’m saying this in broad terms. Throughout our history we’ve always had a strong Christian influence informing the public sphere; but it was an influence that was expressed to varying degrees by those who were engaged in the discussion: voters and/or office holders. It wasn’t perfectly embraced, but the influence of Christian faith was there, somewhere. It made a major contribution to the process of discussion, even if it was compromised in many ways.

In today’s circumstances the power of the Gospel’s influence has been diluted and its impact upon the political process has been weakened. It doesn’t inform our public conduct the way it once did. It’s not that Christians and their beliefs don’t participate in the process; it’s just that the extent and manner of that influence seems to have been compromised to a certain extent. A lot of other ideas are competing with each other, and the competition is being exacerbated by a modern array of values; values that have the effect of adulterating the influence of the Bible even among Christian participants. Likewise, the competition in modern America isn’t friendly, it’s aggressive and getting more aggressive all the time. It’s that way in the job market, in sports, and in politics; which means that even Christians engage in politics in a manner more in keeping with modern political aggressiveness rather than with a biblical understanding of Christlikeness. What are we to do with the biblical mandate for self-sacrifice, for turning the other cheek, for “loving our neighbor” as ourselves? I’m not saying that we shouldn’t stand up for biblical values and work to establish an environment that allows our families to flourish. But we shouldn’t do it in such a way that we violate the fundamental characteristic of our sovereign Father God! What is that characteristic? It’s not equality and fairness before the bar of justice. It’s not unencumbered freedom and personal sovereignty. It’s not agreed upon versions of truth. These are values conjured up by the human mind in the artificial light of a fallen world. The fundamental feature of God that we’ve focused on in previous posts is difficult to comprehend given the current condition of our world. The chaos of political contention both here and abroad is distracting us, and the tension that exists between what is possible and what is doable inspires us and frustrates us at the same time. On our own we seem to be capable of doing so much. We can form governments, invent mechanisms, investigate possibilities on a variety of fronts, but there’s always a catch: our accomplishments can’t sustain us no matter what we achieve. And that’s because we don’t embody the fundamental characteristic of God. I’m not talking about omnipotence, and omniscience, and all the other characteristics that are used to describe the Lord.

What I’m saying—and I’ve said this before—is that the fundamental feature of God is Love. We talk about love a lot in our culture, but our understanding of it is sorely limited because we can’t obtain it naturally. We try to find it on our own, mimicking what we regard as its features, but it’s never right, it can’t be. Love is divine and the divine is only accessible one way: reconciliation with the God whose fundamental feature is Love. That’s what this entire thing called the created order is all about. The nature of love is such that even the Lord can’t manufacture it. It has to be offered, received and embraced freely or it isn’t the real thing. (See my post entitled: “I Wonder…”).

When it comes to identifying true faith from false, the principle feature is love. We mentioned in the last post that as the apostolic era came to a close churches began to display facets that are all too familiar in the modern world. Personality differences, power struggles, and downright abuse began to be displayed more often. In response to this, the Apostle John stated explicitly what had been previously taught by other apostles: God is Love, and true Christianity is expressed in love for others. If your faith doesn’t reflect this feature, then it’s lacking. Being aware of the spiritual nature of our existence is consistent with our understanding of God and ourselves, but love is the substance of that understanding. If we don’t love our neighbor then we need to examine ourselves, and our examination needs to focus on our familiarity with our Lord. It’s in fellowship with God that we’ll be able to reflect His true nature.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. (1 John 4: 7-11)

Obviously, such a posture will have an impact on how we engage in politics. Our hope isn’t in getting the right person into the White House. It’s not making sure that our commonwealth isn’t diluted by an influx of “foreigners”. Our hope is in the Lord. He’s the source of our wellbeing in all the affairs of life. Enjoying the benefits of a wealthy country isn’t sinful unless those benefits are viewed as the principle source of our wellbeing, and we regard the privileged status we enjoy as Americans to be the result of our faith in God. The Lord isn’t primarily interested in our status as Americans. His focus is on His kingdom and our entry into that kingdom which has been made available to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. What we’re actually called to do is suffer in one way or the other. Some people are called to suffer in the extreme; it’s been that way since Jesus rose from the dead. Our problem as American Christians is twofold: we’re not usually prompted to die for our faith as we reside in this country, and the opportunity for personal wealth that provides ease of living is theoretically available to many, if not most Americans. (I’m not talking about the upper echelons of wealth; I’m talking about the means to acquire basic needs and a little bit more.) However, the Lord hasn’t promised this for all true believers as far as I can see. The Apostle Paul does say that God “will provide all our needs according to His riches in glory.” (Philippians 4:19) But that declaration came from someone who was inspired by the Spirit even though he’d spent a lot of time in prison and suffered much abuse, ultimately being executed by a corrupt and vicious government.

What this comes down to is that as Christian Americans we need to make up our minds about who we serve first and foremost: is it ourselves, our country or our Lord and Savior? A choice really needs to be made here. If it’s the Lord then we need to recognize the need to reflect His nature even as we seek to establish a government that will benefit both ourselves and our country.