Today is election day. This is the 59th occasion of a presidential vote since Washington secured his first term in 1789. It’s a grand affair and the pinnacle of our experiment with democracy. The stakes are incredibly high as they have been every four years. Whatever our future will be, it will undoubtedly be shaped by the victor.
Right now, today, this is what we know. Some of us have voted for the incumbent. Some of us have voted for his challenger. Some of us have voted for neither. And on January 20, 2021, someone will be inaugurated as President. There’s not much more about this we can say – today — with any confidence.
There’s a question that preoccupies my mind on a day like today. How, as followers of Jesus, do we think about this? How do we position our minds and hearts while we wait for the results? We are all acutely aware of the wide range of unhelpful and unhealthy responses that will pervade the news over the coming weeks (and beyond). So what do we do as those who live in the kingdom? This is a big, big question, so I hesitate to offer anything at all. Still, this helps me, and I hope it will be of some help to you as well:
We remember the past, and we remember the future.
We are a part of a story that is much grander than today…or our lifetimes…or the lifetime of our country, for that matter. Ours is a story that spans from the Garden to the New Jerusalem of a fully restored heaven and earth. Ours is a story in which nothing can stop the kingdom of God as it permeates all of creation. Ours is a story of a God who has continually proven Himself to be a God of rescue and salvation, a God who according to Romans 4.17, “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
We remember the past, and we remember the future.
This is all well and good. It’s better than good, but what do we actually do with this on a day like today?
For one, we take a deep breath and remember that our perspective is limited.
Two, we remember that God’s will and plan for redemption and transformation cannot be thwarted. That’s true of our own lives and the lives of those around us.
And three, we remember to give thanks no matter the results. Hold on though…I’m not saying we give thanks FOR the results (whatever they may be). I’m saying we give thanks IN SPITE OF the results (whatever they may be). It’s almost an act of defiance. It’s certainly counter-cultural.
As followers of Jesus, whether in devastation or celebration, we insist on the hope that God’s plans and purposes are infinitely bigger than anything that happens today.
