Appeal For Political Unity In & With God’s Word
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.’ (1 Corinthians 1:10)
Paul, in his first letter to the church in Corinth, addresses an issue found among the members there. There were disagreements on who they should follow in doctrine (or for some, in Faith). Some followed Apollos, some followed Peter, some followed Paul, and some followed Jesus. Obviously, the correct answer is Jesus; there may have been a preference in how someone presented the Gospel (Paul may have been more personable, Peter more demonstrative, Apollos more doctrinal), but all should have recognized it was not for them to follow a man in faith, but to follow Jesus and His Truth.
Men (and women) make mistakes and all have opinions that may be attractive to some but repugnant to others. If Peter said ‘only fish on Fridays’, while Paul proclaimed one can have a steak (a real steak, not a veggie imitation of one), I would prefer Paul’s opinion, but I should also compare that to Biblical doctrine – what does Jesus say about this? In Acts 10 and later in 1 Corinthians 8:8 we find God allows us to eat what we want, as our diet does not necessarily bring us closer to or further away from God, as long as it is done without idolatry or gluttony. So we can have some differences of opinion in our dietary doctrine, but Jesus’ Word must be followed. So, eat only the fish, or have surf n’ turf, just eat it with thanks the Lord has provided it for you. Don’t chastise the ‘fishivore’ or the carnivore (or the vegetarian) – God’s OK with them, so you should be OK with them too.
This is also true in the world of politics; we have American Christians who are Democrats, and we have American Christians who are Republicans. There is a myriad of reasons why some are attracted to one or the other platform, but the same rule should apply. Either one is acceptable if they fall into the Truth of the Word of God. Pro-labor is usually a Democratic platform, while less regulation is historically Republican. Neither position is necessarily for or against God, and there should be areas to compromise on these issues – if our representatives seek God’s wisdom in His answer.
Unfortunately, in our current state of politics, both of our parties of choice have either platforms or individual candidates that do not respect or fall into the Word. We find in both parties the support of abortion, LGBTQ, gender fluidity and other platforms that go against the Word. We find the only unity in our government is self-service desire to control and not to serve others. There cannot be unity in such politics, only division that harms the body of the nation. As Paul saw and wrote about in his letter, the divisions within the church of Corinth, if not addressed, would cause fissures that would eventually tear the church apart in strife and dissension.
We need to come together as a nation, and first hold our representatives to Godly standards. We then must recognize where we can have differences and compromise, and where we have differences that we cannot compromise on. Christians of any party need to hold leaders accountable to be steadfast in defending and upholding Godly principles and Truth against those who oppose it. Finally, God needs to be included; we need to pray for our leaders to be courageous and speak up and fight against ungodly principles, to do what is Righteous and just. We do not need feckless and weak secular leadership but strong and solid Godly leadership in running our Constitutional Democratic Republic, in His Truth.
