Every four years, Christians in America undergo mass amnesia and forget their identity.
Rather than being Christ’s followers who happen to live in America, they become Americans who just so happen to be Christians. Their political party drives their hopes, fears, and what they say on social media. They join the rest of their party in a frenzy of slandering someone with an R or D by their name while minimizing, excusing, or ignoring the wickedness of someone with the opposing letter. They likewise use their tongue (or fingers) to tear down Christians and unbelievers, seasoning their ungracious talk with hate instead of salt. With Donald Trump winning a second presidency, we see Christians linking arms with unbelievers and boasting about the triumph of the man they’ve placed their trust in to rescue them.
When it comes to politics, it’s often impossible to distinguish God’s redeemed people from His enemies. They forget their identity and let an earthly political group dictate what they say, promote, and condemn. They are forgiving and tenderhearted to members of the correct political party while simultaneously unforgiving and cold-hearted to those who belong to the wrong one. They even determine someone’s salvation based on which box they checked on a ballot.
They are molded by their loyalty to a human party, often at the expense of their loyalty to Jesus Christ.
Do people see Christ or your politics?
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)
Being marked by a political belief system is acceptable for the rest of the world. We should never be surprised when someone still living under the guilt of their sin finds their identity in who they are politically, and thus aligns all their beliefs with what’s said on MSNBC or Fox News. After all, they don’t have Christ to redeem who they are, what they value, and how they view truth. God’s enemies need to find meaning and purpose as much as we do, and that’s easily done through their political identity in America.
Christians are different. How we view truth isn’t based on cultural context, what’s popular, or what our political affiliation dictates we believe. Truth is based purely on what God has revealed to us in the Bible.
Yet so many Christians find themselves compromising the truth of God in favor of whatever their political party stands for, even letting their political identity interpret what God’s word says and means.
Today, they share things that praise violence or hatred against certain groups of God’s image bearers. They post constant praise or criticism of Donald Trump, and will remind other Christians to honor their leaders, even though four years of posting about Joe Biden proves they’d have done the exact opposite with Kamala Harris. They tell people to trust the Lord while wringing their hands in fear or shouting in celebration based on who is in office.
If they are fighting to defend the lives of the unborn, there’s a good chance they’re also promoting policies, beliefs, and social media posts that lead to the suffering and death of people in other countries (or even their own). Alternatively, they fight for a woman’s right to kill her child while simultaneously fighting for the basic human rights of people outside the womb. And as a party shifts its beliefs on things like abortion to avoid losing voters, Christians excuse or ignore it.
The world sees this hypocrisy. They love the contradiction because it justifies their unbelief in Jesus Christ. They slander us as evildoers, yet it rarely has anything to do with deeds that are motivated by our faithfulness to Jesus Christ. They see us act like the unbelievers in our political party and hate Christ because of us, rather than hating us because of Christ.
Jesus isn’t a Democrat or Republican. He’s God.
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
No political party in all of world history has aligned itself with the truth of God. The closest we’ve ever come was Old Testament Israel, yet even they rarely glorified God in their practices. When Christ came, His purpose had nothing to do with human affairs. The Jews wanted Him to establish an earthly kingdom, but His purpose went far beyond propping up an existing political system.
Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Timothy 2:3-4)
Christ was born into a particular family, religion, and political system, yet not once do we see Him adopt that as His identity. He loved His mother, yet He warned us that His truth will divide families. He followed Jewish law and custom, but only as far as it honored the truth of God. He honored the Roman law and its leaders, but only as far as it agreed with His higher priority of God’s holiness.
Christ was a visitor to a foreign country. He respected what was happening around Him, yet it didn’t define or distract Him. His citizenship, like ours, was in Heaven. And that’s where His loyalty always found itself.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18)
As Christ’s followers, He sends us into the world to continue what He called us to. We aren’t called to turn the world Christian through political policy but through the overwhelming conviction of the Holy Spirit. We are called to be in the world without being a part of it, just as He was.
We aren’t here to fight for a political party. We’re here to fight for the glory of God. The reality is that a political party will never fight for that, nor will it allow us to. They may have policies that agree with aspects of God’s character, but all parties are destined to be flawed because they represent human reasoning and desires. They may have our support, but we cannot surrender our identity and loyalty to them.
As Christians, we can be involved in politics as we’re able. If we’re called to value human life and dignity, we should take advantage of a political system that allows us to promote that. The freedom to vote is one way God allows us to bless the world with His grace.
The problem comes when we diminish the value of human life based on what the human leaders and news sources of our party tell us to believe. The unborn and the foreigner are both equally valuable in the eyes of God, yet a person’s political stance will determine which they’ll protect and which they’ll devalue. We’ll claim that all human life is valuable, yet we assign different values to whatever people our group tells us to protect or fear.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. (James 4:4)
Compromising the truth of the Bible to fit our political beliefs doesn’t glorify God. It doesn’t focus on our identity in Christ. It makes us just like the rest of the world that is so willing to compromise what is good and right to fit in with a group.
Be more than your politics
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Christ lived in a world that hated Him. That hostility wasn’t because He represented a political party, but because He represented God. Living in submission and obedience to the holy God of the universe will naturally put us at odds with a world system that has spent over 6,000 years hating Him.
Democrat policy doesn’t seek to honor God.
Republican policy doesn’t seek to honor God.
Yes, we can be part of a political party. We can believe our political party promotes certain aspects of God’s goodness. But the Bible, above all, must be the decider on what’s right, what’s true, and what’s worth being hated for. Our loyalty to Christ must be foremost when we talk to others or post things on social media.
Who we are is defined by what we believe. We don’t find our identity in our political party. We find our identity in Christ.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12)
Christ’s followers, please stop thinking, acting, and talking like the rest of the world. Stop being hated for your political beliefs or social media feed. Make Democrats and Republicans hate you because you stand with Jesus Christ, not a political party.
[This article is adapted from one I posted in 2020]
