Copyright 2017, 2024 by Shea Oakley<\/p>\n
All rights reserved<\/p>\n
It has been a very rough few months for civility in America. Recent political events have taken a toll on many interpersonal relationships in general in our increasingly polarized nation. One of the sadder aspects of this reality is the fact that the toll has sometimes included relationships among believers. It is sad because our Lord called us to unity and also because, when it comes to putting earthly politics before fellowship, we should know better. Herman Melville once wrote that the Christian ought to be \u201ca patriot only to heaven\u201d and this should in some way be self-evident to the Spirit-filled child of God. While patriotism for our present homeland is not necessarily a vice, it may become one if our greater allegiance to Heaven and to each other is allowed to be superseded by differences in politics.<\/p>\n
I think the problem lies largely in our tendency as believers to get too caught up in the here and now. From the perspective of eternity, the tumult of the nations is of profoundly less importance than the salvation of even one human soul. C.S. Lewis once pointed out that while cultures have a definite lifespan, men and women are eternal. A hundred-thousand years from now every person who ever existed will still exist somewhere. By contrast America, like every other human empire, will be but dust and ashes. For this reason the true Christian strives to live first for the glory of God and for others, not for the glory of any temporal nation, including our own. Temporal, after all, means \u201ctemporary.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not to say that we should not care at all about America. We are called to be salt and light in this world and part of being salt and light is working for the benefit of whatever country God has seen fit to have us inhabit. However, the reason we work for the greater good of the United States is ultimately to benefit people, the ones with the aforementioned eternal souls, and while this applies to everyone in our lives it should be especially true in the case of our brethren in the Church. Therefore, when even\u00a0earnestly held political convictions conflict with charity, true love,\u00a0towards our brothers and sisters charity should win every time.<\/p>\n
I wish I could personally say that such charity has won in me every time, but I cannot. There have been too many moments when I too have looked at the stances some sincere Christians I know have taken politically and found myself getting angry with those Christians. I\u2019ve seen and heard attitudes on both sides of the political spectrum that I find deeply disturbing and have sometimes felt that I could not \u201cspiritually relate\u201d to people who hold to such attitudes. The problem, of course, is that I have had some attitudes of my own during the past several months that are more a credit to my pride and self-interest than to my faith (it does not help that I tend to be a \u201cpolitical animal\u201d and can get caught up in what is happening in Washington during this strange season as much as anyone else).<\/p>\n
That \u201cmea culpa\u201d owned, it still behooves me to say to my fellow Christians that we cannot afford to have conflict in the Church over current events jeopardize both the well-being of the body of Christ and our witness to a lost and dying world. We need each other, and God commands us to love each other. He knows the importance of the ties that bind his sons and daughters together, and it no doubt grieves Him to see any of those ties at risk over matters that do not involve fundamental biblical doctrine. (While it is true that we must sometimes break fellowship over doctrinal issues we cannot be too careful to not let political stances which do not clearly involve such doctrine tear us apart).<\/p>\n
In the final analysis, it again comes down to the overriding importance of the eternal bonds we share with one another not being put at risk lightly. They are just too precious to lose over the results of an election because, as the Christian singer-songwriter Sara Groves once wrote, \u201cat the end of our lives our relationships are all we\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Copyright 2017, 2024 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved It has been a very rough few months for civility in America. Recent political events have taken a toll on many interpersonal relationships in general in our increasingly polarized nation. One of the sadder aspects of this reality is the fact that the toll has sometimes… <\/p>\n