Some Christians are very focused on using politics to achieve certain Christian goals they believe in and to which they are committed. They spend a considerable time and effort to electing the right Congress persons or getting the right judges on the judicial benches. These efforts are laudable and as Christians we should be involved in all the policy debates in our country. The question we ask is: should politics be our main focus?
An editorial in World Magazine states that winning political battles is easy compared to “The much harder part [of changing] the deep-down desires of the people the politicians represent.” [1] But is this not the way God works in our world? His primary efforts are to change us, to change our soul so it is like him; it is not to change our government. When we change ourselves, then we change our institutions such as our government.
So while we should be involved in politics, we also should ask how much time and effort do we spend on politics and how much time and effort do we spend on changing our soul so it becomes like God.
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[1] Joel Belz, “More than politics”, World Magazine, November 21, 2020, p. 8.
