During the 2012 election, I shared this Facebook post: It’s election day 2012 and I will “Trust in the Lord with all of my heart and lean not on my own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5). This verse is extremely applicable today as our nation seeks to bind the wounds of division and as people fight for what they think is right. There’s only one thing I can be sure of right now. And that is that it is Jesus Christ who will bring a peace that transcends all understanding (Philippians 4:7) and it is Jesus Christ who has already overcome the world (John 16:33). We live in a fallen world, and this election has shed light on the messy politics of an increasingly diverse 21st century world. This election brings to the surface that maybe politics is not the answer. There must be something greater. Something better. There must be a savior that is not a politician. This world of brokenness is not the world we are meant to live in. It is Jesus’s saving, abundant, and everlasting love that can redeem our world.
Everyone has processed this election in different ways. I turned to prayer and to music. Here is a list of songs I’ve been listening to this week that have encouraged me to love others and trust in the Lord with all of my heart. These songs have offered me solace, and I encourage you to listen with open ears and an open heart.
Build Your Kingdom Here - Rend Collective Experiment
You Hold Me Now - Hillsong United
Difference Maker - NEEDTOBREATHE
In my theology class I’ve been reading an intriguing book called called To Heal a Fractured World: the Ethics of Responsibility by a Jewish Rabbi named Jonathan Sacks. This book is beautifully complex, worth many long hours of discussion, and this one observation does not do its worth justice. If you find yourself discouraged by this broken world, this book emphasizes what we need to internalize always, not just in the days after a messy election.
Sacks encourages: “Against the fundamentalisms of hate, we must create a counter-fundamentalism of love” (267). Even more so, he emphasizes our role in that love. “‘Here I am,’ ready to heed your call, to mend a fragment of your all-too-broken world” (262).
I expand this argument. This is not just any random love that we are called to spread. Rather, it is a prefect love. The love of the Savior. With the love of Jesus in our hearts, we are changed. And it is because of His love that we can go forth, spread his love, and change the world.
"Here I am," I say to Jesus, "ready to heed your call and spread your perfect love in this all-too-broken world."
