Sign o' the times

I don't really know who reads this blog, which on one hand is a little disturbing since I have little doubt there's a lot of "I know that guy, and he was a jerk to me, so how can he be talking about Jesus on here?!" stuff going down--but on the other hand, it's also a part of me holding myself accountable. People who knew me in past years, however, are probably surprised that I don't spend much, if any time addressing politics and current events. Not so long ago I was something of a political junky; I was relatively active in campus politics, even serving a term on SGA at my undergrad school and taking part in College Republicans both there and at UNT, I listened to a lot of talk radio and spent a lot of time blogging on political matters. But this blog, relatively new compared to my previous efforts, contains little to no political content, and I'm in something of a mood to address why that is.

I became somewhat burned out in terms of dealing with political issues I would say some time between the 2004 and 2006 elections. My side had ostensibly won, but I was unhappy with the direction I saw the country and my party going. Fired up going into the elections, conservatives had become apathetic and the party leadership was more concerned with establishing some sort of permanent majority with (R) behind it than being actual leaders--putting the cart before the horse, so to speak. I was also struggling to understand why I should care about particular matters that to some seemed crucial. Why should I care if some school or courtroom posts the 10 Commandments, or if a particular state legalizes gay marriage? Not to say that I didn't or don't have opinions on those, but they didn't strike me as things that required major cultural battles. In short, I had come into the knowledge that political views of any kind, no matter how logical or right they might be, had nothing to do with achieving any sort of real joy or fulfillment in life.

When God pulled me back in that day in November of 2007, when He grabbed me by the proverbial collar through Matt Chandler's voice and said "You are going to go here, and you are going to bury yourself in Me among these people," God revealed that of course those things were unfulfilling--they could never be. If I clung to earthly matters as though they were crucial and eternal, as though I was the one in real control instead of God, all I would succeed in doing would have been to frustrate myself. I don't have my old blog up anymore, but I do recall posting things to that effect, that I didn't see how things could end up in a good place. The world is certainly becoming a darker place, as wars, famines, diseases, political oppression, enemies foreign and domestic, and quite simply the pure wickedness of man grow with each passing day. I was brought up listening to those who preached optimism, but I had forgotten that it is not in man that such optimism should be placed.

"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet."--Matthew 24:5-7

"Aslan is on the move!"--Mr. Beaver, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Placing my hope in man simply confirmed what I knew about the Bible and God--that is, that this world is sinful, and that it will get much, much worse before it gets better. But even as things grow dark God continues His great work, breaking down doors to faith in places once thought inaccessible to Christianity, not through war and cultural suppression but through love and mercy, and the faithful work of those whose own hearts were changed by the Gospel. By trying my hardest to battle purely on man's field I put myself in an indefensible position--man, as is his nature, will naturally seek out the easiest way, the least opposition. Even when man chooses the harder way, he only does it so that he may come out the other side able to boast, and that rarely ends well.

I still consider myself a conservative. I am deeply troubled with the idea that the President wants to transform huge chunks of the economy into subsets of the federal government. Anyone with the ability to observe can simply look at other countries who do the same to know that it cannot succeed. Raising taxes has never worked and it will not, no matter how you justify it. I will stand up in a moment and say that I oppose his plans. But I will submit every word to the Word, remembering that even the leaders I see as ultimately destructive are established by God--not that I cannot vote against or oppose them, but that I recognize my losses in elections are for His reasons and the greater good of all things. That raises a lot of new and hard questions, but if I trust God, it means I have to trust Him even in those moments where it seems like everything is going wrong.

I will also oppose those on any side who attempt to use the Bible as a weapon to support a particular political agenda. C.S. Lewis spoke against this in Mere Christianity; as soon as you make the Bible a means to your end, rather than living your life for God and seeking Him as the center of all things, you go very, very wrong.

This doesn't mean I will never express political viewpoints, but it does mean that I'm not here to rant. The truth of the Gospel is first, and everything else, especially myself, is secondary.