Love in the Time of Politics

Jim and Emily care about politics, but they care even more about their family and their local church. The heat of the last presidential campaign felt threatening to them. They asked me, “How do we maintain a love that lasts when we see that our nation, churches, and even families are being torn apart over political disagreement?”

Heart Work

William Law, an esteemed 18^th century Anglican, believes there’s a healthy and an unhealthy way to confront evil and pursue change. As I look at those inside and outside the church today, it appears that more people are pursuing the unhealthy model.

Law didn’t write in a vacuum: politics cost him his position at Cambridge when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to King George I (he had previously given his allegiance to the House of Stuart). Looking back, I’m a little grateful he lost his post as it turned his focus more toward writing and publishing, which in turn gave us (among other works) A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life and A Practical Treatise upon Christian Perfection, both of them magnificent reads.

I believe Law would tell Jim and Emily to test their hearts by comparing the three marks of what he called the “natural man”—resistance, rage, and darkness—to the three marks of a Spirit-filled believer: unity, joy, and happiness.

An abundance of “resistance, rage and darkness” is like a warning light on our car’s dashboard, telling us that our spiritual engines are overheating. If we wake up constantly angry, if our focus is always on resisting, that’s a bad sign that our spiritual engine is about to blow. We’ve all read the tiresome Facebook and blog posts from people who rail against evil every day, all with a self-righteous assurance that they are doing the Lord’s work. I read just one day’s Twitter feed to my wife of a writer who had five or six different gripes about what the church is doing wrong—again, all in one day. Lisa couldn’t believe it. Some of the points might even have been valid, but man, the anger and vitriol that comes from “wham, bam, slam” can’t be healthy to a person’s soul (to write or to read).

If someone is more energized to speak of the evil in the church or world than they are of the beauty of God, that alone tells me what they’re looking at most often. You don’t necessarily have to stop listening to the news altogether, but man, for the love of God, pick up a Bible and read it now and then… It’s still possible, even in an ugly world and worshipping in an imperfect church, to remain enamored by the beauty, glory, and transforming truth of Christ.

Law points out that those who exhibit rage, resistance and darkness are typically hyper-focused on others, whereas in God’s economy we should first be focused on ourselves. “Dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

Aldous Huxley joins William Law in warning us away from focusing too much on the sins of others to the neglect of our own pursuit of God: “Those who crusade not for God in themselves, but against the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better, but leave it either as it was, or sometimes even perceptibly worse than it was…By thinking primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions, to create occasions for evil to manifest itself…To be more against the devil than for God is exceedingly dangerous. Every crusader is apt to go mad. He is haunted by the wickedness which he attributes to his enemies; it becomes in some sort a part of him.”

When someone’s life is marked by what they are against, they naturally meditate on what they hate, but when you meditate on something, you become like that. People who focus on what they hate become haters, even if they hate a loathsome thing! Emily and Jim, keep worshipping our beautiful God. Speak light and truth and, regardless of your political passions or disagreement with whomever is in office, pursue and focus on love.  Speak five words of encouragement and hope for every word of fear and chastisement.  

According to Law, the three marks of a Spirit-filled believer (unity, joy, and happiness) keep us pointed toward social and relational health. Unity comes from the Christian call that regardless of whether I agree with someone politically, I must be for them spiritually and always wish God’s best for them. A spirit of unity should be a non-negotiable for every believer: God wants to adopt every man and woman as his son or daughter (1 Timothy 2:4). I may disagree with my children, but I don’t want a single one of them destroyed.

As a citizen of the United States I may vote against you and debate you (hopefully, in a respectful way). As a citizen of heaven, I should be for you as God is for everyone, not wanting any to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

The “joy” and “happiness” of the Spirit-filled life are preserved by knowing God is King, If there is no joy in your life; if you are too angry to ever be happy, you’re descending into darkness. Joy and happiness come even in the midst of disappointing times by remembering that God wins in the end, and God will walk us through times of foolish government or wise government. Our ultimate well-being is never in the hands of elected officials; it rests in the secure presence and promises of an unelected and eternal God. As believers, we may debate with earnestness, but we should never do so with desperation.

Compassion for Others

The other thing I see lacking today when it comes to political or theological debate is compassion. There is hatred. There is the desire to cancel. There is a passion to destroy. There is much arrogance and an eagerness to cast our “opponents” in the worst light possible. But there is almost no compassion.

For the book I’m writing now, I interviewed a couple where the husband acted atrociously. And then came the part about him being molested as a young boy. A seasoned and wise counselor I talked with about this story told me, “As soon as a man tells me about an early molestation, I just wait for the dominoes to fall. I can all but tell him what happened before he even speaks it.”

This doesn’t excuse a man, not even a little bit. Some come out of molestation without making their wives pay such a heavy price. But in this case it gave his wife compassion and empathy as her husband not only expressed true repentance but also followed up his repentance with the hard work of getting better (seeking professional counseling, being in a 12-step group, undergoing regular lie detector tests, etc.).

Jesus lived in a fallen world, with misguided and evil people and yet, “When he saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).

Let’s be like Jesus and have compassion for the angst of a nation that is drifting away from its source of security. As followers of God, we know we have a providential shepherd who takes care of us. We know we have a wealthy heavenly benefactor who promises to provide for us, regardless of who is in the White House. We know we have a healer, should anyone attack us, and even more importantly, we know our eternal destiny is secure in Jesus’ death and resurrection. No one can do us the ultimate harm because God’s eternal promise is certain.

I was reading in Zechariah this morning and came across this choice morsel (God is speaking): “Never again will an oppressor overrun my people, for now I am keeping watch” (9:8). God may let his people be bandied about from time to time, but He can also cop an attitude and say, “Enough is enough!” That’s who is on our side!

But imagine if you didn’t know God and didn’t live with any of these assurances. You’d be desperate! You’d be vicious in your argumentation, because you’d feel like your very life and security depended on your enemies losing. And you’d naturally be tempted to hate anyone who stood in your way because your candidate being defeated would feel like death and despair and hopelessness.

We can be different by being compassionate toward those with whom we disagree. Because we have a Shepherd, we enjoy a rare security in a world filled with insecurity, infighting, and hatred.  

If your family members disagree with you, show compassion first. If your neighbors or fellow church members disagree with you, show compassion first. Jesus certainly didn’t agree with the crowds that came toward him, but his first response was compassion. And then he taught. 

So in political seasons that naturally divide (they never stop coming anymore, do they?), we preserve a love that lasts by taking the temperature of our own hearts first—seeking unity, joy, and happiness over resistance, rage, and darkness.

We may not be able to stop politics from corrupting our nation, but we can stop politics from corrupting our marriage. We may not be able to purify the church to our liking, but that doesn’t mean we can’t tend to our own marriage and build a relationship that honors God and cherishes our spouse. We may not be able to stop people from spewing hatred in their reporting, blogs, or public comments, but we can stop hatred from ruling in our hearts.

There is ugliness everywhere around us, but we can choose to seek out, meditate on, and live in what is beautiful and lovely and honorable.