God Is Still Bigger Than Politics
We decided to take a break from our Total Church book this week and focus on a topic that currently seemed a lot closer to our reality, political influence and the Christian response.
I’ve read a lot of wise/celebratory/fearful posts on social media and blogging sites in the last few weeks over the recent election in the USA. This blog will not be untangling all the opinions out there, however it will shed light on our discussion of times when people in the bible have also been affected by political and social situations.
We looked at Elijah in 1 Kings 19. In verse 10, he despairs to the Lord that the Israelites had rejected the Lord’s covenant, killed prophets and now Elijah felt fearful for his own life. He was so hopeless for the situation that in verse 4 he states: “I have had enough Lord, Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
Elijah was so faithful to God and knew that God is all powerful, but he was allowed to hurt for the desperateness of the situation. And throughout Elijah’s pain, God was with him, hurting with him, providing for his needs, waiting for him to be ready again and strengthening him for the journey ahead. And in the face of mankind’s rejection, God never gives up on loving all of us and pursuing a personal relationship with us all.
The bible is littered with the backdrop of many kings who raised themselves above God. However, the message is the same, for us as followers of Christ to serve God first. Through people choosing to stand for God first and follow His commands, His unchanging, unfathomable message of love and truth spread throughout the world, and transformed rulers and situations.
God is as active and real today as He was during the times when these biblical texts were written. He has transformed the hearts of ISIS terrorists, and strengthens people worldwide to keep lovingly serving in their line of duty, when it can seem that everything is against them. Let’s hurt for the people who live in danger everyday because of race, religion, gender etc, but let’s never forget the God we serve. Our God hasn’t given up on loving every single person He created, and He’s never going to give up on reaching out to them so they too can find His peace and protection.
If you’d like to find out more information about us and to stay tuned of exciting updates for the city centre over the coming months, head to the CCM:City Centre page, contact Tom, like us on Facebook or come along to Costa at 7.30pm on a Tuesday evening.
We’d love to have you.