Today, while you are reading this, all America is going to the polls to decide our officers for the next two to six years. Even without knowing the outcome, we can be thankful that the campaign season is over.
Election cycles take a lot out of us. They are hard on our health — blood pressure, sleep patterns, stress levels, etc. They are hard on relationships with family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances. They are hard on our faith. They entice us to justify things that are obviously wrong. They turn our eyes from permanent matters to the temporary. They force us to choose between terribly flawed sinners (like ourselves), then tempt us to trust them as our saviors. They promise unbounded hope for the future only to dash it to pieces every. single. time.
I’m glad it’s over. But no matter what the outcome, tomorrow we will wake up to learn of winners and losers up and down the ballot. From the school board to the president, roughly half of us will be disappointed by the results, and half pleased. We will go mingle with our co-workers, check in on social media, make preparations to have Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends who voted for the other side.
What shall we say about these things? Is there anything true and solid that can make us feel better about the state of the world, less frantic about the disaster that we fear, more charitable toward the other side of the aisle? Yes, absolutely. In fact there are four things that encourage me. I would like to share them with you.
God is in control.
Whatever happens today is happening because God wants it to. He may want it as blessing, He may want it as chastisement. He may want it in consequence of our standing against Him, or He may want it in consequence of standing with Him. But the overriding truth is that He wants it. That is comforting.
We don’t have to understand the reasons for God’s wanting something in order to have peace. It is enough to know that He does. And even though I do not pretend to speak for other religions, I suspect that this comfort is found in most of them. I hear it expressed in the Latin, “Deo volente.” I hear it from Islam in the word, “Inshallah.” I, myself, pray it and believe it in the words, “Thy will be done.”
I honestly feel sorry for anyone who does not believe this certainty. I can only imagine how overwhelmed, frantic and hopeless they can feel when things don’t go their way. But for those who already believe in the King of kings, Lord of lords — and the President of presidents — tomorrow morning will be just as glorious and hopeful as today, no matter what we think should have happened.
Evil exists only as an attack on the good.
I know that sounds like a pretty depressing thought in what hopes to be an upbeat article. But, really, it’s not. It is a hugely important thought because it undergirds two basic truths about the condition of our world.
First, it means that the evil we see around us is not part of the natural state of the universe. It’s not here by design. It is an intrusion, an alien, an unnatural enemy. To strive against it tooth and claw is not wrong but necessary. And to hope for a world where it no longer exists is not some pie-in-the-sky fantasy, but a hearkening back to an earlier reality, and a realistic expectation of its return.
The second way that the acknowledgement of evil helps is this: it means that the people who are doing evil things are not in and of themselves evil. The devil is evil by nature, but the people and things that he uses to attack the good are themselves redeemable. They are being used, hijacked — perhaps even willingly for the moment. But nobody is hopeless, nobody is intrinsically evil, nobody is beyond rescue.
It is only with a solid and clear understanding of evil as an external and illegitimate attack on goodness that we can both fight against it, and at the same time love the person who is caught in its net. This is more than bland tolerance, this is actually love.
Politics brings this difference to the foreground. For those who cannot grasp the real existence of evil, politics means pretending some people to be angels and others to be demons. But for those who have a realistic understanding of evil, people around you remain lovable together with all their flaws, warts, and bad ideas.
Winning looks more like crucifixion.
Of all the points I am making here, this is the most explicitly Christian. But I hope the non-Christian reader will indulge me anyway. After all, this is also the stuff of every good fairytale, myth and story that was ever told. Our heroes are not strong men who do with brute force what everyone expects them to be able to do. No. The heroes that speak to our deepest humanity are weak in appearance, unlikely to win, are always thrashed nearly to death before unexpectedly snatching victory out of the jaws of defeat.
Whether we are talking Spiderman, Superman or Ironman, or Hercules, Thor or Horace, all heroes follow the same pattern. It is the pattern of Jesus who accomplished His most mighty victory by hanging bloody, weak and defeated on the cross. Take this to heart and you will never be depressed and downcast no matter what happens in this world. When you believe that God’s victories always take the appearance of defeat, defeat itself becomes your hope of victory! How strange, but how incredibly comforting.
The ultimate victory is won.
This fourth point brings them all together. That God is in control, that evil is an intruder that must be resisted, that victory in the resistance looks exactly like defeat, all comes together in this. For those who believe the ultimate victory is certain, they simply are not bothered by the temporary setbacks and looming threats of the near future.
We have our marching orders. We get to play our part. But if the victory is already and ultimately won, the pressure is off. The victory does not depend on our performance. Our performance only reflects which side of the battle we are on. So fight against evil as you must. Love and rescue your neighbor as you can. But do it all with a free and happy heart. Because what really matters rests firmly in hands far more capable and sure-handed than your own.
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