Six Things I Know About The Election by Sarah Hey

My friend Sarah Hey wrote this wonderful piece, "Six Things I Know About The Election" and put it up on Election Day. It is the best thing I have read in the run up to this election. Sarah gave me permission to pass it along to you, my faithful readers.

1) We don’t *deserve* grace or any particular election win (no matter which side we want to win). God doesn't owe us any blessing or benefit, and particularly a comfortable political outcome. 

There’s nothing we can do to *earn* grace or mercy. It either arrives or it does not, and that ought to foster a great humility. 

Our country has a wonderful heritage — squandered in large part but still there — and that is a wonderful thing. 

But we still don’t deserve whatever we are given.

2) Politics is downstream of culture, as Andrew Breitbart pointed out so well. That is, our political context and division is a direct result of the larger over-arching culture. 

But the culture is downstream of the Church. And that is a very disturbing thing, as it shows just how destitute the Church has been in this country for some decades. 

To put this another way, the Church — from top to bottom, stem to stern, left to right, denomination to non-denomination — has failed comprehensively at influencing a broader culture for the better or even creating smaller, worthy mini-cultures that one might wish to join. I laugh a bit at the thought of church discipline as described in Scripture. The purpose of church discipline was to issue a warning to the notorious sinner that he or she could be expelled as a person who was bringing scandal for the Church and confusion to the outside watching world if he or she did not repent. In theory, a community warning might encourage repentance. 

These days, the Church doesn’t create a community that is interesting or valuable or worthy enough for people to be frightened by the threat of eviction.

And if the Church cannot create winsome communities of its own believers, filled with the fruit of the Spirit, it certainly will not influence for the larger culture made up of unbelievers.

The Church is, of course, *me*. And revival of the Church begins with my repentance.

From the standpoint of the election, one side will enjoy some slightly improved “comforts.” But from the larger perspective, nothing much will change at all. The culture will still be the culture. The politics will still be the politics. The two parties will continue to churn out candidates that by and large do not share even remotely the same values or worldview, and thus cannot share the same policy prescriptions. 

Change will occur first and primarily in the life of Christians, in the Church. And then, a long time from now, the culture. And then, another very long time later, politics.

We’ve got work to do, and it has absolutely nothing to do with who gets elected today, churned out in the great machine of today's political sphere.

3) Once a presidential candidate is elected, the other half of the electorate will begin a long tough nightmare. This was the case with Obama’s election and with Trump’s election and will be the case for whomever is elected in this election.

Why?

Well — because we are divided in our values. When a policy is implemented, one side of the voting chasm will find it wonderful and a fit with their values, and the other side will find it disastrous and antithetical to their values. Each week will be a grindingly depressing week (political policy wise) for the one side, and a really great week (political policy wise) for the other.

This is reality for all of us. 

4) One mistake I think the left made during Obama’s terms was the belief that a large portion of the culture had changed its mind regarding various policy choices, values, and political philosophy over an eight year period.  

This was inaccurate and some of us knew it was inaccurate. And I think it led in part to the great shock on the left in 2016. It’s always a surprise to discover that not nearly as many people agree with you as you had thought.

Hopefully none of us on either the left or right will make that mistake again, regardless of the results. There is an immense chasm of difference in values, political worldview, and policy goals in our country. Just because one side or the other is “quiet” or passive or moving on about their lives doesn’t mean they agree with the actions of the current leaders in charge. 

They are waiting and biding their time, not being persuaded.

5) Regardless of who wins, and despite the histrionic predictions of both sides should the other side win, we will not be carried away to Babylonian captivity by Nebuchadnezzar. 

You may recall the desperate sieges of Jerusalem by Babylonian forces — sieges that led to parents consuming their children during starvation, and, once victorious, Nebuchadnezzar’s ultimately slaughtering the king’s sons in front of his and the people’s eyes, *then* punching out the king's eyes, loading him and the remaining captives with chains, and dragging them across the desert to Babylon.

Imagine, for a moment, that scene, in Jerusalem, in front of its starving inhabitants. Imagine the slaughter of the sons, dying in the dirt of the city. Imagine watching your leader’s eyes gouged out — the blood, the screams, the unmitigated horror of that scene, while Nebuchadnezzar watches.

Imagine the long march across the desert, with your king blind. Who died on the way? Who was left behind? How much did the survivors, the children and the elderly, suffer?

There’s no possible calculation of such events from the comfortable rich (we’re all rich) Americans of the 21st century. We cannot fathom the suffering. It is incomprehensible to our minds. 

None of that will happen, given the victory of Trump or Biden, though admittedly there *will* be Bad Things that happen in the minds of those on the other side.

And yet — this is what God says to the desperate, impoverished, defeated and broken remaining Israelites:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”

Those are stupendously hopeful, practical words.

And you know what?

If the Jewish people in Babylon with a wicked and cruel conquering king could cling to that fruitful and life-giving philosophy in the midst of captivity in a foreign land and culture, I can do the same. No matter who wins, I intend to follow exactly that philosophy. 

I intend to be creative and productive, to work, to enjoy the outdoors, to be as fruitful in my relationships as I can be. And I intend to “seek the welfare” of the communities I live in (though not everybody will agree on the definitions of "seeking the welfare.") Dogs, creation, trail running, orienteering, exploring, friends and family, marketing and branding and publicity, gym work, writing, reading, photography, and a relationship with the blessed Trinity are all great marvels and mysteries that can require all of my attention and absorption.

6) Someday, the true King will be known by all. Every knee will bow to Him, Jesus, the prince of Peace. We won’t be Republicans or Democrats or Independents. We’ll be His (or we’ll be gone).

Trump, Biden, Hillary and Bill, Reagan, Bush, Carter and Clinton, Caesar, Nero, Xi, Kim, Boris . . . none of them are in charge.

And I’m not in charge either.

Someday every single human on earth — past, present, and future — will recognize that right well.

Jesus is Lord.