The most important political decision you will make

Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” (Mark 12:17)

Next Tuesday, many of you will enter your local polling place and make one of the most important political decisions of your lifetime. And no – I am not referring to the choice is not between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, as important as that may be. The choice is between putting your hope and trust in a politician and putting your trust and hope in King Jesus.

The writer of Ecclesiastes notes in 3:11 that God “has set eternity in the human heart.” Or, to put it another way, we all have a God-shaped hole in our heart. We were all created to worship. This means, I believe, that if someone declines to worship the God who created them, they will inevitably worship something or someone else. They will look to something or someone else to save them, complete them, fulfill them, give their lives purpose, and absolve them of their guilt and shame. Unfortunately, no one person or thing can ever meet those needs the way that God can.

In our current cultural climate, many people have replaced God with a political figure, party, or cause. We are often no different than the Israelites of Jesus’ day, longing for a Messiah who would deliver our nation from its evils and restore us to a world of justice, righteousness, and unity. But as we have seen, this longing ends up in a divided country in which one half pins their hopes on one political leader and party and the other half puts their hope in the other leader and party.

As Christians, we know there is a better way. Politics is important and necessary, but it is also insufficient to change hearts or save the world. A law may coerce people into obedience, but it cannot give them a heart for holiness and justice. A leader may help stem the tide of evil, but will never ultimately deliver us from the evils of the world. Our hope and our salvation will never be found in politics or politicians, but only in King Jesus.

Furthermore, the gospel teaches us that the problem is not “those people” on the other side of the political aisle, but instead is all of us who in our sin are unable to live up to the principles we hold so dear. The gospel teaches us to put our hope in the King who was, who is, and who one day will return to once and for all unite us and deliver us from the evils of this world. As David Zahl puts it in his book Seculosity, our hope is “not the Messiah we would elect but the one who elects us.”

Even a surface-level reading of the stories of Jesus reveals that his primary concern was what He called “the kingdom of God,” not the kingdoms of this world. His primary goal was not to gain political power in order to change the world, but to set up an alternate kingdom and community that was more concerned about serving Lord Jesus and living in His way of life than serving Lord Caesar and living by his rules. And somehow, despite having no political power, Jesus’ church managed to grow and spread and change the world, while the Roman Empire is dead and gone.

On November 5th, vote your conscience, for the candidate whose character and platform you feel best aligns with your Christian values. But put your trust and hope in King Jesus, and seek first His Kingdom.