Politics

Politics! Good grief! Can we get away from it?

There are times I want to pull the covers over my head and forget about it. But we cannot do that. We live in a world dominated by politics – it seems to contaminate everything – even the church.

What are politics? According to my dictionary it is: “the science or art of political government, the practice or profession of conducting political affairs, the use of strategy or intrigue in obtaining power, control or status”.

It seems odd that the definition contains the word politics or political. When I was in school that was not allowed. You could not define a word with itself. But so many things have changed, maybe that has too.

But politics seems to be a nasty business. A lot of maneuvering and manipulating to get others to do what you want them to. Truth gets lost along the way.

Is there an honest politician? I can’t answer that. I would certainly hope so.

But our solutions will not come from politics or politicians. They can formulate all the policies they want. Give all the speeches we can stand.They can stay in the basement or they can have public rallies. They can wave their banners and post their signs. They can organize us to the hilt. They can promise us the moon – which I think they do and can’t deliver.

Why do we get caught up in it?

I guess it’s in our human nature. We hope things will get better and we look for someone to make it better. The truth is there is no one on the horizon that can fix this country or world. No one. The is no policy that will solve our problems. It matters not if it is the “new green deal” or health care for all” or a new vaccine.

Nothing touches the real issue: man’s sin and need of a Savior.

While I can be fascinated with politics, I know that is not where my hope is. My hope is in Jesus. He is the hope of the world. He alone has the right policy: repentance and forgiveness from Jesus and loving your neighbor as yourself. Simple but hard to implement because our human nature is sinful. But we have a power the world knows nothing about – the power of the Holy Spirit. He convicts us of our sin and brings us to repentance. Then He comes to live in us to empower us to love our neighbor as ourselves.

That’s our hope – our only hope.