Christians are often accused of engaging in politics because we love power and we want to control people. While these accusations are spurious, it is important that we ask ourselves why we engage in politics and what we communicate to the world around us. Our cultural engagement reflects what we believe about God. Because God is sovereign over all, we can be free from the politics of fear. So, as we engage, we should ask ourselves if our words and our actions reflect this. Do we engage in such a way that people know us by our love? Does the world around us know that we love and celebrate God’s design? Do we approach victories as well as defeats with the confidence that, whatever happens, God is in control, or do we allow ourselves to be consumed by fear and bitterness?
If we place our ultimate hope in anything that is not God, we ask that thing to be something that it is not, distorting its purpose and keeping it from what it was designed to be. As a result, something that was created to be good becomes something harmful. Political engagement is a good thing, but all good things must be used rightly in order to remain good. If we find that our politics are marked by resentment, fear, and love of power, we should carefully examine our hearts and ask ourselves if we have allowed ourselves to bow to an idol by placing our hope in the political process, instead of God.
Worldly approaches to political engagement look to policies and politicians to save us and redeem the culture. This misplaced hope leads to political engagement fueled by the fear and resentment that comes from putting our faith in people, human institutions, and worldly methods instead of in God. As Christians, we must do politics differently - politics "worthy of the gospel of Christ." (Philippians 1:27) Because God is sovereign and no politician can “hurt” him, we are able to engage with hopefulness and love, rather than fear and resentment. Instead of putting our faith in politics, we are able to see politics as a tool in the hand of God and a means that we use to seek the good of the people around us.
Putting politics in this light does not mean that we should disengage. Quite the opposite! We are called to seek justice and love mercy (Micah 6:8) and to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). This means that we cannot stay silent in the face of injustice. Tragically, there are grave injustices that are not only tolerated but celebrated in our society right now. We cannot pretend that what happens in the political world does not affect us or the people around us. God works through his people, and political engagement is not the only tool that we have for reaching our culture, pointing people to the goodness of God’s design, and fighting against injustice, but it is an important tool and one that we should not shy away from.
We must fight to protect life because each human life is precious and reflects the image of God. We should recognize from Scripture and from nature that God’s design for human sexuality is a good and glorious thing, and that going against that design is harmful. We should seek to build a society that promotes strong marriages because we know that children thrive when they have a mother and a father. Our political involvement should reflect the fact that we know and love the goodness of God’s design.
Christian civic engagement is not a fear-driven power grab. It is the outflowing of the grace of God at work in our lives in such a way that we pursue the good of the people around us. A hurting world needs a church that is engaged, that ministers to the wounds of the broken, that stands up for truth, and that fights against injustice. Especially in a nation like ours where citizens are able to play such an important role in the political process, this means that Christians should be politically involved. God works through his people—it is a humbling honor that he would use us and a joyous reality that we are able to love and serve our neighbors by being politically engaged. Remembering who God is and what politics are for is the reason we are able to engage in a manner that is driven by hope, not fear.
