On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 it will all be over. The ballots will have been counted and the United States will have a new president heading to the White House.
Wednesday, November 9 will be significant in a number of ways. The US will have selected one of two very different candidates. The US will have set the posture of the future Supreme Court as the new president will get the chance to nominate several to the highest court of the land. The people will have spoken with their vote.
Wednesday, November 9 will also be a return to normalcy. Some may be placing messiah-like hope in the new president, but I won’t be among them. I already know my Messiah. He spent little time worrying who was politically ruling in his day. He thought it right to pay taxes and give respect to governing authorities (Mark 12:17), but He wasn’t into winning popular elections.
His popularity waned back and forth from thousands, to total abandonment by even his closest followers at the (supposed) end. He seemed about something different. His was a different Kingdom. His was a different approach to life with different priorities than placing hope in the current political leader.
What would this carpenter/teacher have said about living life on Nov. 9, 2016? He would ask us to be merciful, to seek purity of heart and live in obedience to God the Father. He would ask us to love our enemies, to keep our marriage vows, to be people of prayer. He’d ask us to lead and disciple our kids in the ways of faith. He would ask us to work and then manage our finances in a manner pleasing to God. He’d ask us not to worry, but to trust God.
It seems that Jesus would ask us to be pretty normal on November 9. There is little fanfare in prayer, in talking to our kids, in seeking a holy lifestyle. It’s not as flashy as selfies at exotic (or even boring) locations, the latest sports event or the newest “toy”. It may not be flashy, but it is good. Just as God is good.
Politicians will come and go. The quality of life in the United States of America may improve or get much worse with the new president. However, what would God ask of us now after the election? To bank on the new president? No. He’d ask us to stay the course. He’d simply remind us to remain faithful to His basic requirements, “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8b.
The Jewish carpenter seemed to live this way. He instructed His followers in a similar fashion. Those of us that trust Jesus, one “more than a carpenter” should not fret the outcome of November 8. We can pray and vote, then pray and live. It’s how Christians have functioned for centuries. Whether they lived in a country open or hostile to the Gospel, they did their best to live out the faith, no matter who was ruling the nation.
I, for one, am ready to start living Nov. 9, whether our next president is named Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
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