Healthy Faith Recognizes the Proper Place for Politics

This has been an unusual election cycle filled with vicious rhetoric, hyperbole, and fearful predictions of apocalyptic doom. Scrolling through my Facebook and Twitter feeds this morning, I found this Election Eve announcement everywhere.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

It's over. (HRC, DJT) has just been caught (lying, latest scandal).This shocking revelation totally ends the political hopes of (HRC, DJT) and assures that (HRC, DJT) will triumph. And if (HRC, DJT) doesn't win, it's because the election was (tampered with, influenced by outside sources) so that (HRC, DJT) couldn't win. We are in big trouble because now (HRC, DJT) will be elected instead of (HRC, DJT).So all you Christians out there better go out and vote for (HRC, DJT) because if you vote for (HRC, DJT) instead of (HRC, DJT) Satan wins!

Here's the thing. If Christians believe that the outcome of an election has more power than God our Father and Creator, Jesus our Redeemer and Hope, the Holy Spirit our Guide and Strength, then Satan has already won. 

I understand that folks have strong feelings about the candidates. But we have lost our way if we place politics above our faith in God. When we wake up on Wednesday morning one of the candidates will be our new president. Some people will be thrilled with the result and others will be devastated. Whatever happens, the Kingdom of God cannot by shaken by the kingdoms of this world. 

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or danger? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39

So let's get up tomorrow and go vote for the candidate of our choice. And when we wake up on Wednesday morning, let's remember who we are in Christ Jesus and what a mighty God we serve. 

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Healthy Faith Recognizes the Proper Place for Politics

This has been an unusual election cycle filled with vicious rhetoric, hyperbole, and fearful predictions of apocalyptic doom. Scrolling through my Facebook and Twitter feeds this morning, I found this Election Eve announcement everywhere.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

It's over. (HRC, DJT) has just been caught (lying, latest scandal).This shocking revelation totally ends the political hopes of (HRC, DJT) and assures that (HRC, DJT) will triumph. And if (HRC, DJT) doesn't win, it's because the election was (tampered with, influenced by outside sources) so that (HRC, DJT) couldn't win. We are in big trouble because now (HRC, DJT) will be elected instead of (HRC, DJT).So all you Christians out there better go out and vote for (HRC, DJT) because if you vote for (HRC, DJT) instead of (HRC, DJT) Satan wins!

Here's the thing. If Christians believe that the outcome of an election has more power than God our Father and Creator, Jesus our Redeemer and Hope, the Holy Spirit our Guide and Strength, then Satan has already won. 

I understand that folks have strong feelings about the candidates. But we have lost our way if we place politics above our faith in God. When we wake up on Wednesday morning one of the candidates will be our new president. Some people will be thrilled with the result and others will be devastated. Whatever happens, the Kingdom of God cannot by shaken by the kingdoms of this world. 

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God and is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution of famine or danger? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:31-39

So let's get up tomorrow and go vote for the candidate of our choice. And when we wake up on Wednesday morning, let's remember who we are in Christ Jesus and what a mighty God we serve. 

Want to join my online community?

Like my Facebook page Practical Priorities 

Follow my blog  Practical Priorities

Follow me on Twitter  @KathyKNorman

Connect with me on LinkedIn  Kathy K. Norman

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Label Makers or Peacemakers?

What does this rainbow mug mean?

There is a rainbow on that mug. Hmm. I wonder what the owner of the mug thinks about DOMA, gay rights, politics, the church, faith, hope, and love? Is she conservative or liberal? Is she voting for Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?  

No matter how any of those questions are answered, someone from the other side will label the person with an opposite point of view as stupid, moron, heathen, radical, socialist, idiot, unpatriotic, clueless, or some other hateful adjective hurled in rage toward another human being created in the image of God. We seem to have lost our ability for civil discourse, thoughtful discussion, exchanging ideas, and giving one another space to have diverse opinions about politics, culture, and the church.

The destructive art of label making has reached new highs during the current election season.We constantly divide ourselves into groups of "Us" and "Them." This tendency has been reinforced by partisan 24/7 television news broadcasts and a thousand social media platforms incessantly demanding that we click, like, copy, paste, repost, favorite, comment, and repin. And if we dare to refuse, we will be unfriended, deleted, and tossed away like worthless trash.

We don't have to agree with one another on anything to be kind to one another. Those who call themselves Christians are commanded by Jesus himself to love one another. It is sad that the name calling comes from inside the church as often as it comes from outside it.The label makers on any side of an issue take the name of the Lord in vain each time they use his name as an excuse to hate, judge, or exclude those they consider "The Others." People with healthy faith recognize that God has not called us to be label makers.He has called us to be peacemakers.He has not called us to label our brothers and sisters by any other name than His.

What about that rainbow mug? That is my mug on a table in my sunroom. I suppose that makes me the most qualified person around to tell you what the rainbow cup represents. Have you already labeled me, decided who I am based on a photograph of a mug?  

The mug is not very valuable.It belonged to my mother.I don't remember where she got it but I know that it hung on a cuphook in her kitchen for decades. When she moved into a senior living facility, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were honored to look through the treasures she had collected over a lifetime and take whatever they wanted. I chose the mug because I like rainbows and I love my mother. It makes me happy to think of her when I sip my morning ginger tea. Ginger Tea Recipe

Maybe it's time for all who say they believe in Jesus, the Prince of Peace, to try to make the world a little more beautiful and a little less fractured by refusing to label the people Our Father God has placed in it with any other name than His.

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:3 NIV

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