Politics. Even the mention of the word brings up tension and anxiety in so many people, and I’m no exception. Personally, I struggle with campaign ads that are disingenuous and border on hypocritical. They accuse others but are guilty of the same thing. It seems that all is fair when it comes to politics.
According to Wikipedia, “politics” means “how people living in groups make planned decisions. Politics is about making agreements between people to live together in groups such as tribes, cities, or countries.” I get that. I think it’s interesting that the Bible refers to “governments” being established by God. Romans 13:1 says, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” In some ways, it is hard for me to reconcile the fact that God established governments with the glaring fact that there is so much corruption within governments.
Well, a few things come to mind as I think about this. First, governments provide protection to citizens, even corrupt and/or evil ones. Followers of Christ have often flourished under evil, repressive, and pagan governments. The first-century Christians are a “case in point.” Secondly, politics/governments are not the “savior of the world.” The issues of evil are, first and foremost, internal and not external. They result from sin affecting everything in the world, especially mankind.
Our world needed saving long before any national government was ever founded. God demonstrated throughout history that redemption could not be accomplished through the power of politics, economy, armies, or politics. Peace comes only and ultimately through a relationship with Jesus.