Is it possible that we have lost focus in the midst of all the political turmoil seen in the last election? Can you recall a time when so many people felt so strongly about the choice of a new president and the direction each of them would take our nation? Social media has reflected the division in a land envisioned as being “one nation under God, indivisible…”
Is it possible that we have forgotten that “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20)? Those Old Testament saints understood this. Abraham left the luxury of an easy life in the city of Ur, and he and his family spent the rest of their lives in tents. By faith they saw the promises of God were in the future and “…embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). “They desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Heb. 11:16). Is it possible that we have lost sight of this fundamental truth and that God is ashamed to be called our God? We must never forget our true citizenship.
Paul says that we are soldiers of the cross and our lives demand that “we must endure hardship” (2 Tim. 2:3). He then describes the focus every Christian must have. “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Has the turmoil in our lives caused us to get entangled with worldly affairs?
How many Christians are there whose lives have centered on the election? Let me ask you a simple question. Have your posts on social media and conversations with others talked more of the affairs of this world than on the souls of the lost? Are you still seeing souls rather than the political ideas they hold? Are you one who has lost focus?
So, what do we need to do about all that is happening? Hear the words of Paul again about that which is first of all in these matters. “I exhort first of all that supplication, prayers, intercession and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Remember who the king was Paul had in mind—it was Nero Caesar! What should we pray about? “That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” (1 Tim. 2:3). It makes no difference who won the election, we must pray for those in Washington—of both parties.
The next verse sums it all up. God “…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This is heaven’s focus on the world, and it must be ours. The destiny of our nation does not lie in converting others to our political persuasion, but in converting them to Christ!