God isn’t Depressed by Politics, Even if I Am

Two imperfect candidates running for president was inevitable. We are all sinners after all. We get that. But two flawed candidates placing little emphasis on dignity for the unborn, religious freedom, limited executive power, national unity, or founding principles wasn’t supposed to happen. So can I just admit both choices make me depressed?

Not just the candidate choices, but the conflict they’ve created among my Evangelical friends and colleagues is taking its toll.

Anxieties over principles and priorities have created factions among faithful Evangelical brothers and sisters I know personally. Some of my friends are diehard Never Trumpers. Others are Never Hillary supporters. Me? I’m somewhere frustrated in between. I’m not nervous about the outcome of this presidential election so much as drained by faithful Evangelicals’ back-and-forth inner discord and the consequences our conflict could have after the election is over.

We are split. A recent Gallup poll found that 40 percent of Protestants favored Republican nominee Donald Trump and 35 percent held a favorable view of Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, as reported by the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s Joseph Rossell.

After the election results, will Evangelicals whose candidate lost play the blame game with one another like disgruntled divorced spouses? I deeply hope not.

Maybe we should start thinking about how the aftermath of the election will affect our current divisions. Perhaps discussions can start among Evangelical leaders on how to reunite afterwards.

We all wish there were better options, but that’s not going to happen before November. So instead, as the body of Christ—whether anti-Hillary, anti-Trump, or somewhere stuck in between—we can be thankful that Jesus Christ is sovereign no matter who is President. No matter how fundamentally transformed the United States might become, the Almighty is still on His throne and in the end He wins. If it sounds simple to you, then I’m sorry. But it is a simple truth that forms the basis of our Christian unity now and after the election votes are tallied.

I’m thankful God isn’t depressed by politics, even if I am.

If you feel the election burn-out like I do (and I suspect you do), then you’ll appreciate Dan Doriani’s encouraging thoughts published over at The Gospel Coalition. Doriani offered:

Because the arguments for all three choices—Trump, Clinton, none of the above—all have a certain plausibility, it’s essential for believers to practice the patience Paul advocates in Romans 14. But if we lay aside Consequentialist assumptions, we aren’t forced to vote for the lesser of two evils. Christians may vote for Trump or Clinton or neither. We serve the sovereign Lord of history. We may do what we judge right, and leave the consequences to him.