I heard it from the left and I heard it from the right. “Vote our way and save the nation!” The Democrats had to win the House and Senate “to save America.” On the flip side, many conservative leaders had emphasized the critical nature of these midterm elections, stating that we had to vote red to save the nation. “The fate of America was at stake!”
But the elections will not determine the destiny of America. Only God can do that. Only God can save our nation. And ultimately, transformation will come to America from the bottom up more than from the top down. Put another way, the political scene reflects the mood of the people more than it determines the mood of the people.
You could argue that the media is far more influential than politics. You could argue that our schools are far more influential than politics. And I would certainly argue that the life of the Church is far more influential than politics.
After all, it is “we the people” who make the decisions about the direction of our nation. And if the Church did its job to reflect God’s light and make disciples, America would be transformed. In turn, politics would be transformed. The courts would be transformed. The schools would be transformed. Even the media would be transformed.
Again, this is not to downplay the significance of the 2018 midterms or the 2020 presidential elections. It’s easy to list the consequences either way: the courts, from the Supreme Court down; the economy; national security; international relations; immigration; and on and on it goes. These are massively important issues, issues that affect us and our children and our grandchildren and beyond.
But let’s the face the facts. The main reason the Supreme Court redefined marriage is because of massive cultural shifts. The main reason we still have abortion on demand is because of spiritual complacency and moral stupor.
The bottom line – to repeat one of my mantras – is that politics is not the gospel. Political decisions are very important in the life of the nation, and our votes do make a difference in determining many aspects of our national direction.
But politics, in itself, is not transformational. Rather, in a democratic republic like ours, politics carries out the will of the people whose votes prevail.
So, while we should stay involved politically, let’s not take our eyes off the prize, which is the transformation of our nation. That is the work of God, and He recruits us to be His fellow-workers, one life at a time.