Our Great, Grieving God
Have you ever been affiliated with a company, organization, church or team of some sort that sanctioned a stance you biblically disagreed with? If so, welcome to my world.
Before any of what I’m about to say gets butchered and taken out of context, please hear my heart: I’m proud to be a Christian. I’m thankful God, through Jesus Christ, saw fit to do for me eternally what I could never accomplish on my own. With those words firmly lodged in your mind, please consider the following: Are we, as Christians, giving our Great God grounds for grieving? (Ephesians 4:30)
The fallout from the recent presidential election has created an uncomfortable tension similar to when flatulence invades a crowded room and everyone encounters it, but acts like nothing is wrong. It’s apparent to me that many people (believers and non-believers) invested themselves emotionally in this election. And regardless of which candidate you supported, if you’re one of those emotionally-charged Christians, I plead with you to continue reading.
Jesus committed no sin and yet He Himself became furious when people had turned His Father’s house into a den of thieves (Matthew 21:12-13). Being angry is not wrong. Many times, we are fully entitled to become frustrated and angry. Nevertheless, Christians have been called to walk worthy and model gentleness while keeping peace (Ephesians 4:1-3) so that even in our responses, God is glorified. And that’s what I’ve seen a lack of…
I’ve spoken with several Christians that have nothing but hatred, bitterness and contempt in their hearts. I’ve read comments from Christians that have made me question what Bible, if any, they’re reading from. And I’ve even heard of one Christian that has threatened to leave the USA and move to Mexico. Surely, God can not be pleased with how the Body has responded.
Emotionally-charged responses (if we’re not careful) will drive us to make decisions based on something temporal rather than on God’s will. We wisely limit the potential for emotional manipulation when we’ve chosen to live out our convictions on a daily basis. Where the rubber meets the road is when those convictions demand that we do something that’ll hurt or cost us. It’s easy to live by convictions when everything is going our way, but emotional and spiritual maturity dictate that we must seek first to understand rather than behave unbecomingly. Spiritual people do what’s right, no matter how they feel about it. Most of us don’t feel our way into doing what’s right; we act scripturally, we act consistently – then our feelings follow suit. When was the last time you set aside some time and really thought through your values and convictions (Galatians 6:4-5)?
This writing is not an attempt to discount the emotional aspect of who we are as human beings. But I’m struggling in my attempt to reconcile the validity of emotional merit when Paul says our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). I’m really being forced to ask, “Why am I not seeing more Christians display the reality of this heavenly citizenship in their response to this election?” If the emotions given to us have not rightly been submitted back to the God who supplied them, therein lies the problem.
Whether the candidate you voted for won or lost, the majesty of our God remains unchanged. He created us with emotions, and every emotion can & should be used for His glory. May your theology best be seen in how you live. And if this message caught you by the heart strings, and you’ve been operating out of emotions, I pray that you’ll repent, receive God’s forgiveness (Psalm 139:23-24) and point people to the Cross of Christ when talk of this election comes up.
Edifying, Encouraging & Enlightening,
Excelsius
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