Reenacting the Actions of Jesus Post Election

Depending on when you read this, the 2024 presidential election is over, or at least in the final hours. 

 

Whatever the outcome, some will be celebrating; some will be grieving. Some will be relishing their victory; others will be lamenting their defeat. Whichever group you’re in, I beseech you in the name of Jesus to celebrate humbly or to grieve not as those who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13).

 

As Jesus followers, we celebrate or grieve with our faith placed appropriately and our actions guided divinely. Our faith is not in the governments of this world. This does not imply we disengage from governance and polity, for Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. All creation—including nations, states, and communities—will ultimately submit to Jesus’ loving rule. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). Those words of the Apostle Paul are not a threat but a promise of hope. Our faith is in the Lord of all, Jesus the Christ, who will one day “make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Until then, we participate in God’s restoration work as we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

 

We celebrate or grieve with our faith placed appropriately AND our actions guided divinely. More specifically, our actions are to align with Jesus’ actions while he walked this earth fully God and fully man. We “re-enact” the actions of Jesus:

 

Servanthood: “If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:14-15).

 

Humility: “He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8).

 

Love: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

 

Surrender: “Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

 

Our divided nation needs the re-enactment of Jesus’s actions to bring healing and hope. We may never find uniformity around national and foreign policies, but we can find unity through our commitment to re-enact the actions of Jesus. Don’t allow the political divide to create a kingdom divide within the bride of Christ. Don’t allow your Facebook interactions to bring disgrace to the face of Jesus or the Book of Life. Do allow your heart and mind to surrender to the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Do allow your actions to re-enact the actions of the Man of Sorrows (Isaiah 53:3) who conquered the world, not with earthly power but with heavenly love, and who will one day return to right all the wrongs and bring us eternal shalom.

 

Sometimes we can be so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good. But we can also be so earthly minded that we are not heavenly directed. So, let’s make sure our actions are not of this world but are re-enactments of Jesus’ actions so that his kingdom comes and his will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.