Voting- Humility Lost

*Again I must open with a warning, I am going to write about politics, and I am going to do it based on what should be guiding our thought life and what should be guiding our actions…Gods word. I did so 4 years ago here and really nothing has changed.

“Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, 

Who have upheld His justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.” -Zephaniah 2:3

Humility lost

Your word O Lord be ever present, in thought, in deed to the very depths of me.

You shall not give your glory to another, and it is You who have called us to righteousness. Holy because You are holy. 

Forgive us of pride, for it is pride that keeps us out of truth and out of righteousness. To You be the glory alone, and let us be humbled in Your sight.

Politics and religion, two dirty words nobody likes to bring up in conversation because they are opinionated subjects. Here is the thing though, I am a very black and white person, I am a person that doesn't normally speak or write for the sake of an “opinion” I speak/write in truth. Truth is not something that is relative, truth is not an opinion it is either true or it isn’t, and I get that statement is hard to understand in this generation of “What is true for you, is not necessarily true for someone else” but honestly..I don't care what you think…I care about what the truth is.

Let me get some things out of the way right off the bat: 

1. I am not Mr. Political activist, I don’t claim to have all the answers, or to know all the ins and outs of how the political system works.
2. I am not a conspiracy theorist and I don’t think the world is going to end depending on who you vote for. 
3. I am not a loyal Republican or Democrat
4. I am not Mr. Patriotic wave a flag and put the country above biblical standards.
5. I don’t believe this nation is a Christian nation(it hasn’t been in a long time)

I am just your regular common sense view point who loves God and is committed to actually living like it. I looked back at what I wrote on this blog 4 years ago, and I just couldn’t believe how things have become even worse. Where is our humility? I speak to you Christian, where is your humility? I get the world is crazy, and I get the world has its ideals and they are contrary to ours, but why have so many bible believing people become so much like the world? I am appalled at how many believers have rallied behind Donald Trump…

“Woe to the rebellious children,” Says the LORD, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, and who devise plans, but not of my Spirit,” Isaiah 30:5

For all those that hold to the belief that the founding fathers of this country were sincere believers and founded this nation based on Christian principles…what would they think of Trump? MORE importantly what does Your savior think? What does God think? If you actually want Trump to be president of this country you have to do these three things;

1. You have to ignore biblical standards for leadership
2. You have to take God completely out of Politics
3. You have to ignore his lack of humility 

Many people, believers included, think the first 2 points don’t matter anyways. Who cares about biblical standards for leadership, and politics has nothing to do with God…right? I mean we are not voting for a pastor.

I have heard that statement “We are not voting for a pastor” more times than I can count this year. They are certainly right though, we are not voting for a pastor, we are voting for somebody who has the freaking authority to lead our country!! By that statement, you are saying that God doesn’t matter…that somebody who holds the power of leading a country doesn’t need God to do it. Isn’t it ironic, Christians will tell everyone that God is needed, that we need to hold to His word for guidance and direction in every aspect of life…but just not the political aspect? God isn’t needed or welcomed there is HE? 

Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying the leader of our country has to be the perfect christian, because there is no such thing. What I am saying, is we shouldn’t throw God out of politics, we shouldn’t treat them like separate issues, because if we honestly believe and claim to follow God, than that means we do that in every aspect of life….in marriage, in friendships, in how we speak, how we act, how we serve, how we do work, and how we lead. If God is our top priority our devotion, that would mean the principles and standards He sets would be something we adore and seek after. We have the privilege to be able to vote for our leader, other Christians do not have that choice, and while generally speaking you are not going to agree with everything a candidate believes or stands behind and you are not going to always have the choice of voting for a believer. We should be seeking Godly character traits, or at the very least a leader with humility and honesty, someone who puts others above themselves, that is the mark of a true leader.

So while we are not voting for a pastor, we are voting for someone who is leading our country, and we should seek to vote without throwing God out of politics like He doesn’t belong.

The Christians that are voting for Trump, will vote for him because they will ignore his lack of humility, and they will ignore his lack of God. They will make the excuse its voting for the lesser of two evils…

I covered the myth that is “Voting for the lesser of two evils” 4 years ago, again what does God think of evil? Does He consider lesser of evils? Evil is evil any way you slice it, that statement is a statement of fear too. For far too long people have ridden that train to the ground, the fear that you must vote R to keep D out of office or visa versa. 

Why have we become a country without humility? Believers are to be the example of this, we are called to show that we have ultimate reliance upon GOD.

For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. Matthew 23:12

If we don’t live according to His word in every aspect of our life, then what are we even living for? What is our purpose? 

Our life is supposed to be transformed and renewed in Christ, How can one who holds to Christ support Donald Trump? I am not even speaking upon his lack of belief in God, I am speaking about his total character is the complete opposite of what we are called to be, how can you support that? Now, you may be asking yourself; “Why am I just ragging on Trump”..because he has the evangelical vote…and I see more Christian support for him than I do Hillary. So back to the “Christian chosen one”…

Christ tells us in John 7:24 “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” And we are suppose to judge the fruit, identify false hood by their fruit Matthew 7:16 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” 

This is directly at those who would say “You cant judge Donald Trump” first of all, you are making a judgement about him in voting for him, and second I can judge him, in fact infant-Christian…we are called to judge by the fruit. Donald Trump claims to be a believer and will flat out lie about it and that doesn’t bother any of you, why? because he’s a good business man? he's a freaking con artist….a snake oil salesman who will say whatever you want to hear. It would be fine if Donald Trump were honest about his belief in God, and had a little humility, just a freaking ounce of humility and ability to lead. However, not only is he not a believer he is a flat out liar about it. He claims to be Christian, and yet has never asked forgiveness from God because he doesn't need to. Yeah, that is who I want to lead my country..a person who thinks He is not accountable to God for ANYTHING he does.

Those who vote Donald Trump again either reject the need for God in politics, don't care about biblical standards for leadership or are completely naive. I guess Paul Washer was right about Christianity in America…it is not Gospel hardened it is gospel ignorant.  We completely throw God out of this country, don’t care if our leadership is accountable to Him, and we wonder why this country is totally backwards and is lacking in humility. 

Trump is not the answer for this countries ills, Repentance and GOD is the answer, Trump is not going to fix this country, if elected he will be the punishment of this country that it deserves. Trump is mentally disturbed and self centered, to the point that I honestly believe he has a narcissistic disorder. I understand the popularity of Trump, amongst the worldly, I don’t understand it for the Godly.  

I know God is in control, I believe in Divine Providence; God the good Creator of all things, in His infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things. 

I will honor who ever receives the position, because Gods word says I have to, but I wont vote for Trump nor will I vote for Hillary, because I can not do so in good conscience ….because neither of them are fit to run this country, and neither stand by principles that I respect.

We need humility as believers, we need to humble ourselves before GOD, we need to submit our worries, our stresses, our fears, our vote to HIM. God is our ultimate authority not man. I will be voting third party again, and there are plenty of options. Voting third party is not a wasted vote, and it is a vote that goes against both parties because both parties are corrupt…

I am not  for someone who should be in Prison(Hillary) and I am not for someone who should be in a mental institution(Trump).

Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote … he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country.
Samuel Adams

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; But when a wicked man rules, the people groan. 

Proverbs 29:2

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 

2 Chronicles 7:14

Love Without Reason

“Loving without reason”

Love, it’s a complicated topic. Sure, it may be easy to describe the feeling or interpret it to our own accord. However, Love as the bible describes it, and loving as we are called to, thats a whole different issue. For how do you even begin to “Love your enemies” as Jesus says to, how does one begin to “love your wife as Christ loved the church”. We all know the scriptures but are we really ready and willing to actually live them out. It is easy to love your enemy if they love you first, and it is easy to love your wife and sacrifice yourself for her when she makes it easy to, but what about when she disrespects you? What about when your enemy sets you up for failure, or throws you under the buss to move ahead of you and take that bonus or job you have been working hard for?

Don’t we honestly make justifications for our love? We love these verses in the bible that tell us to love our enemies and love and sacrifice for our wives, but we are quick to make justifications for why we do or don't do them. What makes the gospel compelling is not only what is said but the actions that were lived out, Jesus said humbling and difficult things, but He didn’t just proclaim them He actually did them. We love receiving the love of Christ, which is total sacrifice…total undeserved grace…a love that loves without reason, because we are so undeserving it is overwhelming when we receive the love of God, when we truly can see our own sin, how selfishly motivated and how wrong we are in the eyes of GOD the Holy and righteous Judge, and yet we are granted that forgiveness, that mercy and grace that is completely contrary to what we actually deserve, because what we have honestly stored up for ourselves should be wrath and indignation but we are granted the opposite, are we not in awe and amazement? We know that is love without a shadow of a doubt because it comes undeservedly so….we know it is forgiveness because we are getting opposite of what we actually deserve, and we know its something we can not earn for ourselves….we can’t buy the love of God with what we have to offer, we can’t earn it with good works, because no good works can overshadow who we are by nature in and of our own doing.

This is my purpose in this rant; “Love without reason” For example: if you love your wife because she is perfect…first of all you are delusional because she's not, but if you love her because of what she does for you…that is not love…that is loving what is being done for you, your loving on feeling and as long as that person or thing continues to make you feel that way you will love them/it but once it stops you won’t…that is not love. If that was love God would of stopped loving us a long time ago. Love is expression and devotion above opposition, love is a work, it is difficult to do and it takes effort, it takes surrender, and to love in the way the bible describes it takes the renewing of your mind and living in the spirit.

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. 1 Peter 3:8

It takes a humble mind, one that will sacrifice their own well being for someone else…that is love. It’s easy to love others when they agree with us, when we are like minded, when we have the same goals and ideals, as believers we are called to a higher calling of love. We are called to show a difference, and we have the opportunity every single day to show grace, the same forgiveness and grace that God showed us. If we really believe God is in control it makes it easy to love our enemy…we would know God will look out for us, instead of seething with jealousy over a promotion of someone we consider an enemy…what if we swallowed our pride and congratulated? Even if they stepped over us to get ahead…

What if when our spouse disrespects us we show a difference and don’t do it back? What if we actually 

….Love without reason..

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.  For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days,

let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;

let him turn away from evil and do good;

    let him seek peace and pursue it. 

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

    and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?  But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 1 Peter 3:9-16