Ummm. He lost. I know you know that, but I thought maybe I should say it again, since we don’t always do so well with these kinds of things, do we? In fact, entire groups of Christians are still living with the blinds down and the lights out as they try to figure out where we go from here. I don’t mean to make fun, but I do find it amusing how many people who have been brought into an unshakeable kingdom with an unshakeable King can find themselves so shaken by events that take place in a shakeable world that is just a temporary home.
And so now, days after the next great plan for America failed, many sit with their heads in their hands asking a very simple question: “Now what?”
I have a very simple answer: follow Jesus.
Romney and the Republican party (or, for that matter, Obama and the Democrats) are not, were not, and never could have been the answer for what this great country needs, and the minute we start to believe that lie is the minute we cease to walk with the power that we have received from another kingdom. Make sure you read this next statement until you really get it: nothing that is real, nothing that matters most, has changed since the electoral count topped 270 in blue late in the evening of November 6, 2012. If you are a follower of Jesus, then your King was never up for re-election, and no vote count in this place can ever shake his kingdom.
And so we simply carry on, and if we’ve been living our lives as true followers of Jesus, then the answer to “now what?” is as simple as “keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Have you ever had someone ask you what you would do if you knew today was your last day to live? Most of the time people respond with a routine that is far from their normal one, don’t they?
“I’d call my son whom I haven’t spoken to in years.”
“I’d quit my job.”
“I’d spend time with my family.”
“I’d make things right with my Maker.”
But here’s an answer you don’t hear nearly as often as you probably should: “I’d just do what I do all the time already.” Doesn’t that answer make a lot more sense, though? Shouldn’t we already be doing the things that matter the most so much that a major external shaking wouldn’t really change things?
See, if you’re truly a disciple of Christ, it means that you’re already talking with him, reading his words, and spending time on a regular basis with others who are doing the same. And it means that, even after such a disappointing result in our recent election, when it comes to the things that are the most important, our response is to simply do them even more.
Pray more. Not for the “wrong” voters to get straightened out, but for the Jesus-followers to “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life.” (Philippians 2:15-16)
Read more. Know the truth of the Bible so well that you will be able to “let you conversation always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)
Fellowship more. This is so much more than eating potluck dinners once or twice a year! This is spending time with other followers of Jesus away from the one hour service on Sunday. This is about sharing life together and serving others together on the other six days of the week in such a way that your light will “shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Church, this is our time, not to rule, but to serve a country in desperate need of the grace we have been made carriers of.
Now what? Now, we shine!
Well said, Paul! We stand, we move forward led by Christ, we love, we care, we pray.