From Thursday’s newsletter (if you do not receive our newsletter, please send your email address to [email protected]):
Good morning! Election Day is almost less than 10 days away. Almost…
There is undoubtedly a lot on the line in this upcoming election. But one of the bigger problems facing us (and by us I mean our conservative movement) is we put too much stock into our “elected representatives.”
For example, I have heard a number of different politicians are going to “save America,” not just Donald J. Trump. The truth is, no politician is going to save America. Now, in President Trump’s case, I believe he may buy us some time. But he will not save America.
I’ve even heard that phrase uttered about U.S. House candidates. These people, mind you, are running to be 1 out of 435 people who serve in the U.S. House. Translation, they are running to represent less than one-quarter of one percent of the U.S. House of Representatives.
They aren’t saving America either.
Sometimes I think one of our biggest challenges is we look to the wrong place for the solution. In this case, we’re looking at politicians to save America yet many will show up at a church on Sunday that “doesn’t get political” and respects the idea of “separation of church and state.”
Often it seems we want our politicians to fight the battle that really should be waged by our churches and our pastors. And I’m sure about 95 percent of America’s churches and pastors appreciate this because it’s much easier to be a church and be a pastor when you’re not offending anyone. Offended people are much less likely to tithe, you know.
And while the church and the pastors should be spearheading some of these cultural fights, it also seems we sometimes like to stay on the sideline ourselves.
Now, many of you reading this newsletter don’t stay on the sidelines. You’re engaged and you’re making sacrifices on behalf of your city, state and country. But in reality, many Americans do the minimum when it comes to “politics.” And by the minimum, I mean they vote. And then that’s it for another two or four years.
Yesterday I was talking to a friend on the phone who was asked if I thought they should attend the next library board meeting and speak out about an issue while offering a solution.
My initial response was asking what their desired goal was.
Now, I’m not going to say my initial response was wrong, because I hate admitting when I’m wrong. But I will say that while I do believe it’s important we have a clear, desired goal decided before we do something, it was somewhat short-sighted.
Through conversation, I was able to give a better answer. And here is how we got there…
I told my friend that I think the libraries are lost cause. I said I honestly think this whole thing is a lost cause. I think the fact we’re even here debating some of the things we’re debating today shows we as a culture, as a society, as a country are too far gone for us to “win” these fights.
Some days I get in that mood. But don’t worry, it never lasts long.
I told my friend that despite my honest belief that there’s a really good chance we don’t win these battles here, I know we have to fight them.
Now, both my friend and I agreed that in the end, our side wins. But as I’ve said before, while we know we win in the end as it relates to death and heaven, it would sure be nice to at least try and win here too for the sake of the kids and grandkids who will be left behind after we’re long gone.
Besides, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven means exactly that…
Anyway, I told my friend one of the biggest hurdles we have is we think we will win before we try to win. And if it seems the challenge may be too difficult or the result unattainable, too often we don’t even bother fighting at all.
It’s sad, really. I said, think of how many times we don’t do things because we think what difference can one person make anyway? The cultural tide is going one way, we should just control what we can control in our own house and do the best we can to protect our own kids and not worry about the rest of the world while it burns itself down.
We approach political battles from a posture of defeat before we even take a fighting stance.
And I said the saddest part about that is most Americans — men especially — would never take that approach to their favorite sports teams. I mean, surely every single one of us as a fan of a team has gone into a game firmly believing our team would lose. Perhaps they were double-digit underdogs. They fall behind right away. They offer no hint of hope.
But we’ll sit there and waste three or four hours of our lives watching anyway. Even though we knew the most likely result would be a loss.
I’ve coached enough youth sports to admit that a few times, I went into the game not expecting to win. But I showed up to coach anyway.
Yet for some reason, we don’t tend to apply that same approach to politics. It’s too hard. It’s too awkward. It’s too confrontational.
Ultimately I told my friend the thing we forget all the time and should remember is that success to us may look very different than success to God. Whereas we may believe if my friend goes to the library board, speaks and the board does nothing in response, we may take that as a loss or a failure.
When in reality, the act of speaking up may be the success God was looking for in the situation.
My initial response wasn’t totally wrong — asking what the desired goal or outcome was. I mean, I could have had a worse initial response.
But I wish my first response had been much simpler and to the point. Something like — well, is God calling you to speak to the library board?
Because really that answer should be the only answer we need to know what to do.
We love to look to politicians to solve our problems. Part of that is on them because they try to convince us they can when, let’s be honest, they can’t. But a more significant part of that is on us because it’s easier to look to others to do the hard things than it is to roll up your own sleeves and do the dirty work yourself.
I’m not trying to diminish the importance of voting or politics. But do want to make sure we remember there is something much bigger than politics and someone much more powerful than politicians.
If we truly want to save America, it’s going to take a lot more than one politician or winning one election. It’s going to take a concerted effort. It’s going to take an entire team.
More importantly, it takes a willingness to try. We have to try in everything we do. We should never expect more out of our politicians than we expect out of our churches and our pastors. And we shouldn’t expect more out of our politicians than we expect of ourselves.
JOIN US IN THE FIGHT! The Iowa Standard NEEDS financial support! You can sign up HERE to be a financial supporter. We’re also on Venmo at Iowa-Standard-2018 and PayPal at [email protected]. Checks can be sent to:
PO Box 112
Sioux Center, IA 51250
If you cannot contribute financially, please consider telling ALL of your friends & family about us. Invite them to follow us on various channels. Speaking of, here’s how they can do that:
Sign up for our email newsletter
Gab – https://gab.com/jacobhall25
