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(Do Not Open Until Election Day 2020)
November 3, 2020
Dear followers of Jesus,
It’s Election Day! Wow! Has it been four years already?
Today, the people of the United States will either: 1) re-elect President Donald J. Trump to a second term, 2) elect another Republican in the rare event that someone successfully challenged President Trump in the primary elections to become the party’s nominee, or 3) elect the Democrat candidate in the 2020 Presidential race.
I’m writing this letter to bring some things to your remembrance and to ask some things of you, especially if the third possibility becomes a reality today and a Democrat is elected to lead our nation as the next President of the United States.
1) Keep praying.
Four years ago, in the days following President Trump’s election, many Christians composed some beautiful and deeply meaningful prayers on behalf of the President-elect and our nation. Some posted and shared these prayers on social media. They acknowledged and praised God’s sovereignty, credited His wisdom and His guidance upon the electorate, professed their confidence that His divine hand had been decisively active in the outcome of the election, and petitioned His richest blessings to be upon the new President.
I hope that you saved those prayers in an easily accessible place. Please retrieve them and pray them again today and in the days ahead… verbatim. Change them only to reflect the name of the new President-elect. They would be splendid prayers for you to continue praying over the next four years. I’m asking this of you simply because I don’t recall the composition of such prayers in 2008 and 2012, and it would be a real shame to reserve such lofty petitions only for candidates of our liking and choosing. Or is it possible you believe that God only selectively involves Himself in our elections, with unfavorable outcomes serving as an unmistakable signal as to which ones He has chosen to sit out?
Oh, and the countless public prayers that I have heard in Christian assemblies over the last four years that specially requested heavenly blessings upon President Trump, openly and unashamedly mentioning him by name… those would be great to continue as well. Again, my mind isn’t quite what it used to be (I’m nearing 60 now), but I just can’t remember such prayers being offered with any regularity during the eight years prior to President Trump’s election.
2) Keep reciting and living out Scripture.
Do you remember those Scriptures and memes that were so prolifically posted on social media when President Trump was elected? They included Biblical texts like:
“First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:1-4)
“Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good… Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (I Peter 2:13-17)
That was so great! Please do that again!
Many Christians experienced a miraculous measure of renewed interest and dedicated commitment to these Scriptures on November 8, 2016. I just don’t want to see these texts fall back into the depths of obscurity, neglect, and disuse that they suffered from 2008 to 2016.
3) Keep calling for unity, healing, and overcoming divisions and differences.
Following President Trump’s election four years ago, there were repeated calls from Christians for the nation to come together, unite, support our new President, and heal the wounds of division within our country. Harsh rebukes were offered to those engaged in post-election protests, urging them to get over it, accept the will of the people, and respectfully support the President-elect as the incoming leader of one nation under God.
The memories of many were apparently instantaneously wiped clean of any recollection of the divisiveness, disrespect, incivility, insults, name-calling, demonizing, venom, and vitriol in which far too many Christians had been deeply involved for the previous eight years. I lost count of the number of believers I know who stated or wrote, “Barack Obama is not my President. He will never be my President.” I regularly heard President Obama’s name spoken with derision and contempt.
You can’t speak like that and behave like that for eight years, and then, upon the election of your favored candidate, wave a wand, flip a switch, sweeten your tone, invite everyone to grab a hand and sing “Kumbaya,” and expect to be taken seriously. You can’t repeatedly toss grenades and verbal weapons of mass destruction, and then glibly pontificate about the need to heal.
So, if “the other candidate” wins this 2020 election, please commit yourself to be among the first to call the nation to unity, to demonstrate solidarity and show support for the President-elect, and commit yourself to sincere and ceaseless prayer on his or her behalf, and for our nation under their leadership. Whatever you thought “God is in control” meant in 2016, try to speak and act as if you still believe it now.
Only when we’ve lived it can we credibly prescribe it.
When we fail to do these things, the light of Christ becomes shrouded by our duplicity, our hypocrisy, and our blatant double standards. We ensure that those who are skeptical and dubious about our belief in Jesus will find it even more impossible to accept our faith as genuine and authentic.
If we believe that our God’s sovereignty and the successful working of His will is dependent upon the election of a particular candidate or the dominance of a single political party, then our God is far, far too small.
Lest you think I’m being overly critical of believers or unduly “beating up on fellow Christians” to the neglect of pointing out the faults and failures of those in the world, please understand that the latter is not within my purview as a minister of Christ. “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside.” (I Corinthians 5:12-13)
My desire is that our light shine more brightly, our convictions more consistently, and our witness more credibly as disciples of Jesus.
Grace and peace always,
Tim
Occasionally, phrases just leap out of songs, resonate with my heart, and find a permanent place in my consciousness.
One that has been rattling around in my brain for a few years now is the line, “I’m way too old to hate you,” from Brandi Carlile’s tune, “My Song,” which appeared on her 2007 album, The Story. As I have commented on this blog before, I have a great affinity for Carlile’s music. Her lyrics are honest and poetically powerful, and she delivers them with amazing energy and palpable emotion. She doesn’t shy away from lyrically expressing feelings of failure, regret, and loneliness.
“I’m way too old to hate you.”
Shouldn’t there be an age cap or some sort of statute of limitations on hatred? Shouldn’t our journey of spiritual growth, maturity, and conformity to the image of Christ eventually lead us to a threshold where we are required to leave our excess emotional baggage behind?
I can think of few things sadder than someone approaching death, yet still harboring bitterness and animosity in their hearts over some incident that took place years or decades earlier.
It is so emotionally and spiritually self-destructive to live under the tyranny of a painful event from the past. In shutting the gates of compassion and mercy toward others and refusing to release them from their offenses, we may fool ourselves into thinking that we are holding them as emotional hostages, when in reality it is ourselves who have been consigned to captivity. Very often, the other person has moved on, having found forgiveness and redemption from an infinitely higher Source. They live in grace and freedom, blissfully unaware of our self-imposed confinement in the mire of our own misery.
How old do I have to be before I can learn to let things go? I think 51 is old enough!
While the following passages may be somewhat familiar, perhaps fresh phrasing from The Living Bible will provide some additional insight.
“If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge. Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry— get over it quickly; for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil,” (Ephesians 4:26-27).
“Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives,” (Ephesians 4:31).
“So get rid of your feelings of hatred. Don’t just pretend to be good! Be done with dishonesty and jealousy and talking about others behind their backs,” (I Peter 2:1).
“Try to stay out of all quarrels, and seek to live a clean and holy life, for one who is not holy will not see the Lord. Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives,” (Hebrews 12:14-15).
Whatever the offense, let it go.
Whatever the disappointment, the pain, or the sense of betrayal, release it.
And pray that others will be just as gracious and merciful to you.
Thinking Out Loud 