[This post was written and uploaded the day before the shocking assassination attempt against Donald Trump last Saturday, July 13th. That horrific event and the resulting messages pleading for civility in our political circumstances deserve their own deeper commentary. But that violent act now adds an even greater urgency to the message below calling for voices of hope.]

“How are you feeling about the current election season?” 

When I ask that question of others or examine my own just-beneath-the-surface emotions, I never hear responses like: confident, enthusiastic, entertained. More often the responses reveal the condition of many Americans’ hearts, souls, and minds: frightened, angry, baffled, embarrassed.

I know. Me, too. 

As a young boy who came of age in the turbulent 1960’s I was shocked to learn that America doesn’t always win its wars; our political system is not flawless; the voices in the Capitol and the White House are not always trustworthy; and sometimes certain ethnicities and races in our nation are treated unequally and unfairly. It was a harsh reckoning with the reality of human shortcomings.

I believe we are living through a similar era of disillusionment and, in many cases, hopelessness. How is it that in our nation of over 300 million—with the planet’s highest productivity and wealth, universities that are among the most highly respected in the world, and global corporations that influence nearly all of the rest of the world’s inhabitants— our political system has elevated to the surface our two current presidential candidates? 

This is the choice that polls indicate 72% of our citizenry are unhappy with. The same flawed candidates we had last time, one of whom regularly disappoints with indefensible character flaws; the other who can no longer cover up the mental and clarity lapses that virtually all humans experience at his age.

How did we get here? That’s a question beyond my limited political understanding and intent for this post. How do I as a Christ-following man process and then act on these circumstances? That’s what I’d like to comment on.

Four truths for me to acknowledge and embrace:

1. Our system and our political parties should not hold our highest allegiance.

As a committed Christian and child of God, my allegiance, first and foremost, is to the Kingdom of Heaven. My party (though I’m registered as Independent) or yours (if you have one) should fall somewhere lower on our list of priorities.

I’ll explore on a deeper level, in a follow-up post, what Scripture reveals about the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll preface it here with a caution: It may look nothing like what you think! The term Kingdom of Heaven appears 45 times in Scripture; 31 times in Matthew alone. Take a look ahead to Matthew 13 if you’re curious.

Spoiler alert: No political party, no club, no fraternity, no military branch, no sports team should hold a higher level of commitment for Christian men and women than The Kingdom of Heaven. If something else gets in the way of that, shove it down the list.

2. Our candidate, if we have one, is not the hope of the world.

Frankly, I have more confidence in the moral character and the mental capacity of the new mayor of Colorado Springs, a committed Christian immigrant from Nigeria, than the men we are being asked to entrust with the world’s most powerful role. Neither of these candidates is the hope of the world.

Jesus Christ is the Hope of the World. He is the One we follow with unbridled commitment and enthusiasm. No man or woman, regardless of their talents, education, wealth, or power are reliable places to entrust our hope. Let’s keep that straight.

Humans can lead and serve remarkably well at times, and as citizens, we should engage, vote for, and support those candidates we believe in. But let’s not forget that all of us are deeply flawed and vulnerable to our own brokenness. No single candidate, party, or nation is the hope of the world.

3. We Christ-followers are called to be light in darkness.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) Then, shockingly, he said to his followers, including you and me, “You are the light of the world.” (Mt. 5:14-16, italics are mine) What?! Me?

Later, the apostle Paul wrote of us, “You once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live therefore as people of light.” (Eph. 5:8) Friends, I have to ask myself, and I suggest you do the same, am I a source of light in the current darkness around me?

In this time of frightening divisiveness and rancor in our nation, do my spirit, language, and online presence look like light? At one time you and I could be defined by the word: darkness. No longer. Now we are urged to live like the light we actually are. Do we?

4. We can be purveyors of hope.

Jesus Christ and his humble, courageous, redeemed followers, the Church, are the hope of the world. Romans 15:13 invokes the God of Hope to “fill us with all joy and peace so that we might overflow with hope…” Do those words accurately describe us?

What if in our conversations at work, in the community, at home, or in our church small group, our contribution feels increasingly like hope. Not wishful thinking the way the world hopes. Rather, a firm confidence in the character and nature of Almighty God, who actually is the one in charge.

Could it be that you and I, who experience the same disappointment and anxiousness about our current political circumstances as the next person, might allow the God of Hope to fill us so full that we might overflow with hope and splash it onto the feet of others? Through the power of the Holy Spirit, as Paul writes, I think it’s possible.

Friends, these are four truths I am embracing in this turbulent time. We can anticipate the volume and frequency of political controversy will only increase in the coming months. If these truths might bring life, light, and hope to you, too, I invite you to embrace them with me.

In my next post, I’ll say more about what I think we are called to as citizens of both the Kingdom of Heaven and our nation.