In their desire to promote righteousness and God's will, Christians have too often found themselves drawn into the political systems of this world. Unfortunately, instead of influencing things in a better direction, the Christian often finds him/herself participating in a process which interrupts his/her focus on God, distorts the distinction between good and evil and causes him/her to compromise with the dictates of his/her faith and conscience. One candidate or policy seems to be the right one at the time we are considering the alternatives, but we often learn later that our choice(s) produced unintended negative consequences. In other words, in our attempt to avert an evil outcome, we often set the stage for an even worse future than the one we were trying to avoid!
This is not a new phenomenon. For centuries, various Christians have seen themselves as acting to defend God, their faith, and their way of life. Christians have found themselves drawn into participating in the persecution of others and taking up arms to repel the heathen hordes of the world. Indeed, when we take an impartial look at the long history of our faith, we see numerous instances where the saints sought to use the secular governments of this world to defend or advance their agenda. Unfortunately, people of faith have taken up arms against those whom they perceived to be their (or God's) enemies, or imprisoned and/or executed them! In more modern times, we have seen Christians flood into the political system to try to influence policies related to morality, freedom, abortion, capital punishment, war, and peace. Moreover, those of us who have been tempted to jump into the fray often fail to give any serious consideration to the effects of our intervention. Did our vote make things better? Did our policy prescription solve the problem? Did our candidate improve the circumstances which originally compelled us to support him/her? In other words, how many times have we been disappointed by our political choices?
Hence, while the impulse to make a positive difference is noble and good, we find that the devil is often found in the details of what comes next! Perhaps this is why Jesus prayed that God would not remove his disciples from this world, but that "he" would protect them from the evil inherent to it (John 17:14-19)? Perhaps this is why Christ said not to worry about what is going to happen in the future, but to be prepared for what is to come (Matthew 6:25-34 and 24:36-44)? Perhaps this is why Jesus told his disciples to render unto Ceasar the things which belong to his realm, and to render unto God the things which belong to "his" realm (Matthew 22:21)? Perhaps it also accounts for the fact that Christ told his disciples to pray for the day when God's Kingdom and will have encompassed the whole earth (Matthew 6:5-13)? Perhaps this is why the Apostle Paul advised the saints at Rome to be subject to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1-7)? Perhaps this is why Paul told Timothy to pray for the governing authorities so that Christians could practice their faith in peace and without harassment (I Timothy 2:1-4)? Also, perhaps this is why that same apostle later told him that Christians should not become entangled in civilian affairs (II Timothy 2:3-4)? Perhaps this also accounts for Paul's instructions to the saints at Philippi not to fret about ANYTHING, but to ask God to supply their needs (Philippians 4:4-7)? Finally, in the book of Revelation, Christians are warned against participating in the corrupt Beast/Babylonian system which is symbolic of humankind's polity (Revelation 13:16-17, 18:4-8, and 20:4).
Unfortunately, we Christians sometimes forget that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth, and that our primary citizenship resides in heaven (Hebrews 11:13-16). Our salvation, spiritual and physical, is found in God's plan. In short, the political systems which humankind has devised are flawed, and they will fail someday. We must not forget that our faith and hope is found in God, and him alone! (Psalm 118:8)
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