My Guilt In The Present World

Regular readers of my blog are well aware of my passion for politics and morals, and truth and good, solid reasoning and arguments. Sadly, you may be less aware of my passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and for His Kingdom. Perhaps that is because that passion has been either lacking or misdirected.

I have even argued that, since all things are connected, and all truth is God's truth, that getting into politics and social issues is fighting for God's truth and the Kingdom, but I have come to see that this approach only applies in a very marginal sense.

I can so clearly see that only true and correctly understood Conservative Politics are compatible with the Bible, and and Gospel of Christ, and so I fought for the Conservative Politics. I can so clearly see how moral and social issues are so clearly delineated in the Bible, and so I fought for those moral and social issues. I could go on, but let it suffice to say that while I was so willing to engage in all of the peripheral issues, and associated battles, I have been guilty of ignoring the most central issue.

While I'm not saying that my positions on these issues were wrong, I am saying that my focus on these issues was very wrong indeed. I have come to see that Jesus did not come into this world to bring about Political or Social change. He came to bring Salvation, and He has commissioned us to take the message of that Salvation out into the world.

I am well prepared to argue over Politics, and can well explain why correctly understood and applied Conservatism is the moral choice, while Liberalism is inherently immoral. I am able to argue and debate over issues of cloning and abortion and same-sex marriage without ever bringing up a singe verse of Scripture, or I can argue it directly from Scripture. I am well able to define and defend the proper role of Government, both from a philosophical and Biblical position. On these, and a host of other issues, I have spent much time, energy and thought, but if I have ignored the central issue, then it was all for nothing.

We could win all of the political victories imaginable. We could have Abortion outlawed. We could defend marriage and see that the special title of marriage is reserved for one man and one woman. We could see an end put to Embryonic Stem Cell Research. We could do many more things, and win many more victories, but if we do not advance the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it is all for nothing.

Christians should well be concerned with feeding the hungry, housing the poor, caring for the sick, and helping all who are in need, and we should not seek the Government to do these things for us. But, while we need to be about all of these things, if we do not share the Gospel of Christ, it is all for naught. If we feed all the hungry of the World with food, and shelter them all in houses, and bring them all high quality medical care, and on down the list, only to watch them enter Eternity apart from God, and be outcast to Hell, then we have hated, rather than loved them.

In the past few weeks I have felt my passion for Politics and such wain. I have tried to reclaim it a time or two, thinking that I was losing grip on what was most important, but I have come to realize that I have lost nothing. My passion was not growing weak, it was being replaced!

While I'll still vote, and still take the time to make sure I understand the issues so that I may vote well, I will not ignore the Wonder and Majesty of Christ and His Gospel and His Kingdom in favor arguing over what I now see amount to the trivialities of this present age. May I stand for Christ, spread the Gospel message, and see the World change as the fire of a passion for Him and His Kingdom rages through the Church and around the World.

May I stand with the Prophet Isaiah, and when the Lord asks, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" (Isa 6:8a) may I say with Isaiah, "Here am I! Send me." (Isa 6:8b)