Politics and the Real Life

I confess. I yell at the TV. I’ve even thrown a pillow or two.

Watching media news at our house looks much the same as watching a football game, albeit a very depressing one.

Why watch you ask? It draws me like a mosquito to the zapper. I can’t help it.

I react like a pendulum. Some days I feel like I need to dig holes like a squirrel in the back yard and bury food for the long haul, the next I think the end is so near I might as well finish the ice-cream. All of it.

Politics is not for the faint of heart. Electoral coverage makes me throw my arms up in the air, sometimes in irritation, sometimes in confusion, but mostly out of sheer frustration.

This morning I read 1 Timothy 2:1-7. Some things caught my attention.

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,  for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. (1 Timothy 2:1-2 NASB)

God wants us to pray for our leaders. Whatever party.

• Entreat God
• Pray earnestly
• Petition God
• Thank God

All throughout Scripture rulers came into power and went out of power. It seems like most of them didn’t enhance the godly man’s existence but rather made their lives miserable. They exiled people, put them in chains, and decapitated innocent people.

So that…

• we can lead quiet peaceable lives
• with godliness and reverence.

Paul points toward the believer’s aim to be one absent of inward and outward disturbances that might deter from living pure and morally respectful lives.

The heart of God looks beyond the politics of the day, its corrupt core and messy facade. He looks deeper than figures and platforms.

God wants people to know Jesus.

… who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4 NASB).

My prayer to the Father should be one of humble surrender desiring even unappealing and onerous rulers the mercy and lovingkindness of Christ. My deepest petitions should regard eternity. Spiritual awakening in this country and in our leaders, is paramount, that we may live God-honoring lives whether through peace or refining fires of persecution.

I am uneasy about this election. I know I’m not alone. However, when the last of the red white and blue balloons have all floated away and the habit of our lives continue, may our hearts remain like Jesus, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

God’s Hand is still in control moving time, moving history.

©Sylvia Schroeder 2016

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