I pushed my chair back from my desk in my home office. It was 7 o’clock and for the last hour or so I had been making my rounds on the conservative and libertarian blogs. The “Occupy Whatever” protests had been going on for a few days and I had been reading reports, opinions and watching videos on what was going on in New York and elsewhere. I distinctly remember my thoughts as I stood up from the computer and went to fix dinner. “It’s so sad that all those hippies have placed all their trust and hope in a system of government and hopes for a socialist utopia. I feel sorry for them. I’m not like that, I’m different. I have Jesus.” That was a week ago and I’ve done some thinking, and God has been working on my heart since.
What I thought was true, of course. Without an all powerful Savior to put our full faith, hope and trust in we look around for substitutes. We look for hope in other people or relationships. We look for security from a government or an army. We look for compassionate change from the masses. We erect these people, institutions and things as idols in our lives. We worship them, we sacrifice for them, and we orient our lives around them in hopes of a form of salvation. This is the condition of the human heart as it always has been, but I also realized something else.
I am a hypocrite. Not just a hypocrite in the sense that I have my own idols. I’m a hypocrite in the sense that I have have the exact same idols. Those that know me will immediately know that I do not subscribe to the same beliefs, but the result is the same.
I trust a well armed and trained military for my security. I trust my 2nd Amendment rights to protect myself and my loved ones. My hope is for a change in government over what we have had these last many years. My justice is found in the letter of an imperfect law. But most damning of all, my greatest refuge of hope for our country is in a free market system that while efficient, is by no means perfect.
This is painfully ironic for someone who, only a few years ago, mocked political opponents for holding their candidate up as a ‘messiah’. Crow is not a fun meal.
My idolatry is even worse than those I called out, because my faith has enabled me to see it for what it is, and I still buy into the lie. This makes me even worse than those that I looked down upon. Upon this I build my public confession, I am a hypocrite and a liar.
Now, these things are not unimportant. I do think it is vital for all people to be engaged and educated about how our country, states and cities are run. But for Christians, it cannot be our ultimate.
Now that God has used this to reveal the depth of my sin, where do I go next? For one, I need to dig deep in prayer and repentance to ask my Lord to remove those idols. Additionally, I need to examine my heart and my mind and determine how I can engage in the civic life of this society without basing my identity or my faith in either the actors, institutions or machinations of government.
Change cannot come from a sinful heart. Confession, repentance and then obedience is the path to defeating sin and temptation. How will this play out for me? I’m not sure yet… but I know where the right place to find my hope is.
Tags: politics
