Right, left, or neither, we should address the logs in our own eye before we presume to address the specks in someone else’s.
2. Show Respect for Authorities With Whom You Disagree
Examples fill the Scriptures. Despite being put in prison for crimes he didn’t commit, Joseph treated Pharaoh and the Egyptian guards with honor. Daniel and his three friends spoke respectfully to Babylon’s evil King Nebuchadnezzar. David blessed and prayed for King Saul and did not retaliate against him when he had an opportunity to do so. Instead, he entrusted himself, and the ways that King Saul had injured him, to God who judges justly.
David wouldn’t even speak negatively about Saul. Why? Because God, for reasons only God knew, wanted Saul to be king for a time. Out of respect for God, David gave respect to Saul.
These are godly models for us to consider as we engage political discussions, and as we think about how to relate to authorities we don’t agree with.
3. Engage in Politics Like a Grown-Up
Amid a heated political campaign in 1774, John Wesley wrote the following in his Journal:
I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them:
1. To vote … for the person they judged most worthy,
2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against, and
3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.
Another thing you can do is organize. With the rise and ubiquity of social media, there is no shortage of opportunity to engage in causes and ideas you believe in.
But activism that’s limited to social media, or “slacktivism,” isn’t enough. If you really want to make a difference, you need to also figure out how you will donate your time, financial contributions, and professional skills to leave the world better and, so far as it depends on you, make government intervention and involvement less necessary.
4. Remember Jesus’ Kingdom is Not of This World
Jesus came to fulfill every part of Scripture. Not one word of God’s just and true law will go unfulfilled by Jesus.
How conservative of Him.
