Today will probably be a short one, but one that is close to my heart and one I have been convicted of myself. Now whether you are Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, Tea Party, Green Party, Short, Tall, Fat, Small, etc etc etc it does not matter to me, all that matters is that you believe in the saving faith that only comes through Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. I'll start off with a bible verse.
Mark 12:30-31
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
As always context will be added, in that Jesus at this point was in full swing ministry, and the 12th chapter of Mark discusses the questioning that Jesus had to always endure from the Pharisees. It's a teaching chapter, as most of it is strictly teachings straight from the mouth of God. In this specific part of the chapter, a teacher of the law (most likely a Pharisee or something of the like) came up to Jesus and thought he had a witty question, he asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. And this is the answer Jesus gave. Which is an absolute perfect answer, in that "Love your God" encapsulates the first four commandments, "Love your Neighbor" encapsulates 5-10.
So in short, love your neighbor, does include your President. There are an awful lot of things that I disagree with Barak Obama on, but you know what? God has placed him there for a reason and if God did not want him in office, he wouldn't be there. As Christians we always say this, but in practice we only accomplish this act when our leaders are who we want them to be. If you truly believe that God put them there for a reason. So you know what? You need to love them. Loving them does not include any of the following; hating them, speaking badly of them, associating them with everything that is wrong in the country (blame congress....just kidding haha). How about, instead of making your president out to be the devil, to pray for them. Pray for good leadership, and that they would act in accordance to God's will (note: i did not say YOUR will, God's will). Pray that God would bring revival to this country, and that your grandchildren will be able to live in a country that is free to speak as they wish, free to practice religion as they wish, and know Jesus Christ personally.
That being said, this does not mean voicing your political opinion is wrong, but there are two things with that and I'm guilty of not doing these myself. First off, be tolerant of other views. Tolerant does not equal acceptance, i'm not saying everybody is right. I'm just saying your opinion is yours, tolerate the fact that other opinions exist. Second, be positive in your language, actions, and lifestyle. Don't bash people, or ideas, or opinions. Voice yours with positive language. And if someone starts to argue or disagree, leave it at that.
Life's too short to make everyone mad about political opinions that in all honestly, matter little to nothing in the grand scheme of things.
Jesus also discusses a political tax in Mark 12.
13 Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians(I) to Jesus to catch him(J) in his words.14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax[b] to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”
But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
And they were amazed at him.
Now, let's dive into this. Basically, Jesus is given a question. The Pharisee's know that Jesus lives pretty independent of the Government (which is a whole other blog post in itself, seriously, look at last year August on my blog, talked about it), so they think that they can trap him with this question. But Jesus has a very laid back answer "Give what to Caesars what is Caesars and to God what is God's."
Jesus had bigger worries than politics. So should we.
Living life to the fullest by giving to God what is God's, our absolute whole self and devotion and ultimately our lives.
I'll stop there.
