The hypocrisy of politically-driven spirituality …

As we entered into the presidential campaign season that just came to a conclusion, many professing Christians looked at the candidates and, driven by politics and fear, began to claim the “end” must surely be just around the corner!

That claim became louder and more urgent the more it seemed like Hillary Clinton would likely win the election. But suddenly, when Trump pulled out a remarkable win, those same professing Christians are thanking God for intervening and giving America an opportunity to repent.

Suddenly, it doesn’t seem like the “end” is going to happen any time soon, after all.

While claiming to have their faith in Christ, those same people allowed their political clamor to inaccurately and inappropriately drive their spirituality. If they really believed the wrong candidate winning was a sure sign of the soon and sure return of Christ, why didn’t they pour themselves into sharing the Gospel with every lost person they could find? Instead, they spent their days hurling warnings and condemnations on social media.

Apparently, now that Trump has won the election, any sense of urgency for preparing for Christ’s pending return has suddenly vanished.

It shouldn’t.

Our urgency for proclaiming the Gospel to everyone on the planet because we know that Jesus WILL return, or that we will all have to bow before Him at some time, should have nothing to do with elections, politicians, or anything politic. And our urgency for keeping an eye open for His return should be a daily reality in our lives, as one writer emphasized in the following illustration …

Ever felt the need to sleep with one eye open? Too bad it’s impossible. Or is it?

Unihemispheric slow-wave sleep is an actual phenomenon in nature whereby a creature can split its consciousness in two, with one half its brain sleeping while the other remains wakeful.

A great example is found in seals. While in unihemispheric sleep, they literally keep one eye opened and the other eye closed! This half-brain sleep only occurs while they are in the water, but when they come up to sleep on land, they sleep with their whole brains turned off like humans.

The unidentified writer then adds this insight:

The Lord has called us to be watchful and wakeful as we await His return. Obviously, we can’t literally stay awake 24/7. But we can sleep with one eye open, so to speak, always conscious and aware that He could return at any moment. Don’t behave like beached seals who “sleep with their whole brains turned off.”

“For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. … So be on your guard, not asleep like the others. Stay alert and be clearheaded” (1 Thessalonians 5:2, 6, NLT).

To think you can close your eyes and be lazy just because your preferred candidate won an election is to place your faith in human beings and politics rather than in the sovereign reign of God.

Just as how all the political pundits were completely wrong about their sure prediction of a Clinton victory, those professing Christians who prophesied from politically-driven fear that the end was immediately immanent were also very wrong.

What’s the main lesson here?

It is HIGH TIME we suck the politics out of our faith and start practicing a biblical faith, one that isn’t driven by fear, or by reliance on who is in the White House.

It’s HIGH TIME we keep an eye on the Lord’s return, and let that motivate us to pour out our lives as ambassadors for Christ who share the Good News of Jesus with every human being who will give us a hearing …

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” 2 Corinthians 5:18-20.

We just watched millions upon millions of American citizens feed a political sense of urgency to a fever pitch, but where is our urgency to be Christ’s ambassadors? Where is our urgency to swing our lives wide open to God making His appeal through us?

With an eye peeled for the Lord’s return, let us stoke to a fever pitch our personal sense of urgency to take up this task of reconciling people to God while there is still time — however long or short that may be.

Scotty