What Comes Next

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48 NIV)

We woke up this morning with a new President-Elect.  As the closeness of the election indicated, nearly half of our country is terribly disappointed and the other half is at least satisfied and many jubilant. And if my social media feeds have been any indication, there are many Christians on both sides.  So what now?

Really there is only one response: We love one another even if we disagree with each other.  And we love our new President whether we agree or disagree with him.  This is why the way of Jesus is narrow and few take it because it demands us to die to ourselves, to put to death our base instincts, and to let go of our sense of fairness.  If people hate us, we are commanded to love them anyway.  If we associate with only those who share a similar viewpoint, then we are no better than those we consider our enemies because similar associations are easy and lived out by all.  

Loving our neighbor, according to Jesus, goes far beyond whether we like the person or agree with them.  God blesses both the righteous and unrighteous, those who are His friends and those who are His enemies. In other words, the Lord has set the example for us.

So moving forward after such a contentious election season, our response needs to be one of graciousness to one another.  There is likely to be much antagonism in the coming days and beyond. Followers of Jesus need to set the example of loving those with whom we disagree.  We don’t need to condemn or disparage each other. 

As we begin a transition in our government and, perhaps, in our country, let’s keep in the front of our minds that the Lord expects us to love each other regardless of our political beliefs.  It may not be easy, but Jesus never promised it would be. 

© Jim Musser 2016