As we approach the election of 2024, a lot seems to be at stake. If the Democrats win will this be the last meaningful election? If they don’t win, but are declared winners anyway by the media, what does that mean for the future of our nation? The common response that I have heard is that it means nothing good for Christians, but I am not sure that is completely true.
That is not meant to imply that I support the Democrats. I do not, and I believe their victory right now would indeed have disastrous consequences for our nation. I intend to do everything that I can do to prevent that. But my hope is not in the government.
I believe that is important for Christians to be involved in politics, and to be so as Christians. A person of integrity cannot be a faithful Christian at home but “non-religious” in the public sphere. He must be who he is in all arenas of life. To not allow your sincerely held religious beliefs to influence your political or other public practices in nonsense, verging on apostacy.
So, I will always exercise my right to vote for good, just laws and those who will uphold them whenever I am able to do so. It is what I can do. Others may be able to do more, and it is good for them to do so if possible.
But, if all that we can do doesn’t matter, what then? If the system is too broken, so corrupted that all our best efforts fail, what then? Well, then our call remains the same. We are called to be saints. We are called to serve the Lord faithfully, seeking to do good, to proclaim His name, to spread the hope of salvation in season and out of season.
Great saints have done this throughout history under all manners of governments, and we are called to do the same. It may be harder to do so if society is crumbling around us, if public policies become increasingly hostile to our morals and practices. However, such challenges are not necessarily bad for Christians. It is in such times that the strength of our convictions is tested, in which we are forced to grow in boldness, and are reminded that we need to trust in God alone.
We have become complacent, living in a time and place in history that has made the practice of our faith relatively easy and a comfortable way of life achievable for many, but we were not made for ease and comfort. We may soon be shaken out of this complacency. But, if troubling times lie ahead, take heart, remembering that Christ has conquered the world. Come what may, our hope remains firm, for our hope lies where it always has, in Christ and in His Church. We were made for such a time as this.
Prose for the sake of Poetry 