3 Ways Your Politics Are Corrupting Your Witness
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It’s been said for years that there are two things you don’t talk about: politics and religion. Funny enough, I am about to talk about both.
When you lead with politics, you may fall victim to what I call Biblical fallacy. What I mean by that is you use Scripture out of context to validate your political statement or position. Either that, or you explain away why that Scripture does not apply in this situation. Let me give you an example.
When you read these verses, the instruction is fairly simple. We offer petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving for all people and for kings and those who are in authority. That is about as straightforward as it gets. Let me ask you – how many of you do this? If we are going to be honest, most of us don’t. Here is what we do. We pray for those in office we like, and we rail and complain about those in office we don’t like. If we pray, we pray blessings for those we like and curses for those we don’t like. Please stop me if I am not telling the truth, because this is biblical fallacy.
The problem is we often justify our positions with excuses. We will say “look at what they are doing,” or “I just don’t like their policies.” While both things may be true, please tell me what does that have to do with offering petitions, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving? The answer is nothing.
To take it a step further, I am going to make an observation from recent history. When President Trump was in office, pastors and leaders were lining up at the door of the White House to pray for him. There were prayer meetings and worship services at the White House. Prominent Christian leaders were exhorting their followers to pray for President Trump. When President Biden took office, all those voices went silent. The rallying cries to pray for President Biden disappeared.
Now here is the real test of whether you lead with politics or with the Bible. What is your immediate response to that observation? If the first words out of your mouth are “But…”, then you are putting your politics ahead of your commitment to the word of God. If that is true, you are destroying your witness. I am not saying you must agree with any policy a person in office has. I am saying according to God’s word, that should not stop you from praying for them.
One last thought here, when you pray for them, pray the same way for the leaders you like and the ones you don’t like.
I don’t know how this article will be received. After all, I broke the rule and talked about politics. My heart is that we would get past the political stuff and realize our calling in Christ is much higher than that. Yes, you can get involved and you should. Yes, you can have candidates you like and don’t like. Just remember, the world is watching and what they need to see in you and me is Jesus. Quite frankly if they don’t see that, then your politics won’t matter anyway.
The last time I checked, the road to salvation and eternal life goes through the cross and not through the voting booth.
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