By Caloy Diño
I often hear many people in church saying that Christians should stay away from politics. And they state a number of reason for this, like the separation of church and state, or that politics is dirty.
Given this, should church people be involved in the coming elections at all?
I firmly believe we should. I can give you three reasons why we should.
First of all, the truth of the Gospel is that Jesus is Lord. That is a political statement. That means that he is sovereign over all, even all political leaders.
In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said to his disciples before his ascension, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This means that everyone in authority on earth is subject to him as King of kings.
Secondly, Political governance is God's idea. He sees leaders as His instrument for governance.
In Romans 13:1, the apostle Paul said. " Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
The Apostle Peter makes things even clearer, stating the reason why political leaders exist. In 1Peter 2:13-14, he said, "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, (14) or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good."
Thirdly, God desires justice and righteousness in leaders.
King Solomon expressed God's universal desire for political leaders in Psalm 72:2-4: "May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! (3) Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! (4) May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!"
God has given us the grace to have been born in a democratic republic. God gave us the freedom to choose our own leaders. And that grace comes with a responsibility. We have the constitutional authority to install good leaders and remove bad leaders. And we have the equal collective ability to install bad leaders and remove good leaders.
I often hear many people in church saying that Christians should stay away from politics. And they state a number of reason for this, like the separation of church and state, or that politics is dirty.
Given this, should church people be involved in the coming elections at all?
I firmly believe we should. I can give you three reasons why we should.
First of all, the truth of the Gospel is that Jesus is Lord. That is a political statement. That means that he is sovereign over all, even all political leaders.
In Matthew 28:18, Jesus said to his disciples before his ascension, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This means that everyone in authority on earth is subject to him as King of kings.
Secondly, Political governance is God's idea. He sees leaders as His instrument for governance.
In Romans 13:1, the apostle Paul said. " Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
The Apostle Peter makes things even clearer, stating the reason why political leaders exist. In 1Peter 2:13-14, he said, "Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, (14) or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good."
Thirdly, God desires justice and righteousness in leaders.
King Solomon expressed God's universal desire for political leaders in Psalm 72:2-4: "May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice! (3) Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! (4) May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!"
God has given us the grace to have been born in a democratic republic. God gave us the freedom to choose our own leaders. And that grace comes with a responsibility. We have the constitutional authority to install good leaders and remove bad leaders. And we have the equal collective ability to install bad leaders and remove good leaders.
If we want our country's leaders to be subject to the Lordship of Christ; if we want them to uphold the good and punish evil; if we want justice, righteousness and prosperity to prevail, then therefore, we must ensure that these kinds of leaders do get elected.
Which means we must he directly involved in educating other people about God's desire for leaders. And we must ensure that the true and accurate votes of the people are counted and upheld.