The government of the United States has shut down, and the world is
still turning. In fact, although the
government has shut down, the ones who have caused this shutdown are still
being paid. Finger pointing is happening
on a minute by minute basis between conservatives and liberals, Democrats and
Republicans.
As I drove around in my car the other day, trying to see whether this
whole shutdown had really made a difference in my world, I was growing
increasingly more disenchanted with the number of political campaign signs that
I saw. There was a political gathering
at the clubhouse in my neighborhood which meant an inundation of political signs,
albeit temporarily. As the Fall wanes on
and we move from October towards November, we will most likely see an overabundance
of advertisements in the places where we usually find ourselves
unmolested. There is an even greater
chance of that when the election results seem to mean more than usual or if we
live in some kind of swing state (although the effect is not quite as great on
a non-presidential election year).
I am not a very political guy.
I have strong moral convictions and I am fairly conservative to moderate,
but politics have never really interested me much. My lackadaisical approach towards politics
has changed over the past few years, to the point of growing frustrated and
angry with the approach that we take towards politics.
I don’t spend a ton of time watching TV, and if I do, it’s usually
sports, weather, music, or movies. Even
in those limited viewing experiences, I have been seeing my fair share of
political advertisements. The thing is,
I’m not even sure that I can really use that term to describe what’s happening
in those 30 second slots on television.
An advertisement will generally tell you all of the benefits of a
product rather than telling you that you need to buy it simply because it’s not
one of the other competing products.
Sadly, that’s what we have become, the state of our political ad
campaigns is more of a “here’s all the reasons why my opponent is the wrong
choice” rather than a “let me tell you exactly what I stand for and why I’m the
right choice” approach.
How did we get here? When did
it get to a point where the platform on which we run is simply that we aren’t
our opponent? How much can we really
understand and know about someone who simply tells you that their opponent is corrupt,
a crook, a cheat, a liar, and so many other things while not saying a thing
about themselves? When we get so busy
telling people all of the things that we aren’t, we generally neglect to tell
people about all of the things that we are.
We’ve even kind of gotten here in the church. Instead of speaking of the difference that
Jesus Christ has made in our lives, we talk about how we’re better than
everyone else because we don’t do this or that, believe this or that, or vote
for this or that. Not exactly a means by
which to win friends and influence people.
We can say whatever we want, but until people see that Jesus is making a
difference in us, it’s going to devolve into a political smear campaign against
anyone who believes differently than us.
Sure, what we believe is important, but if what we believe doesn’t
make a difference in the way that we live our lives, does it really
matter? Is it really worth all of that
if there is no change in us?
I am changed because of what Christ has done in me. If left to my own devices, I would be an even
bigger jerk than I already am. People
dislike me now, they would dislike me even more had I not entered into a
relationship with Jesus Christ. I have
been able to endure difficulties and trials, I have seen my needs met, I have
seen life change take place in me and in others, all because of Jesus
Christ. He has made a difference for me
and for many others who I know.
I would much rather know what someone is for rather than what they’re
against. I wish people would appreciate
me for what I believe rather than what I oppose. I wish that people would see how Jesus has
changed me rather than how staying away from everything else has made me
better. I hope that people see that I am
different not because of “sin management” in my life but because of God’s
transformative love and power. If I’ve
got a platform on which I’m standing, that’s it. Nothing more.
Nothing less.
How nice it would be if we could just simply hear about what people
are for. Wouldn’t it make our elections
a little simpler to negotiate? If we
took this approach within the church, we might actually see people coming
because they had seen how Christ had impacted people they work with, they live
near, they go to school with, or play sports with rather than because they wanted
a place that met all of their needs and provided all of the programs to keep
them and their family occupied and satisfied.
Jesus isn’t a program a product or a campaign, and if we treat him
like one, we shouldn’t be surprised if people grow as tired of him as they do
of the programs, products, and political candidates which eventually grow
stale. Just like some of us have
struggled to fully understand what impacts this government shutdown have REALLY
had on our lives, I wonder what would happen if the church shut down. Would people really see a difference? Would they care? Would we?
