Green Lane
Shirley
Solihull
West Midlands
B90 1AA
Heartbeat 2010 May 2
God, politics and compromise
This Thursday is the General Election. Last Sunday evening we looked at 'What would Jesus vote for?' which led into a time of prayer for the nation and the upcoming election.
We looked too at the Westminster Declaration which in part is an attempt to answer the question 'What would Jesus vote for?' The focus here is on three key issues of protecting human life, protecting marriage, and protecting freedom of conscience. There's a copy of this on the noticeboard at the back and you may want to add your name to the petition or go online and do the same.
But 'God, politics and compromise' ... does God do compromise in the sense that much of politics involves compromise or perhaps making a choice between what may be seen as the lesser of two evils?
I believe that God very much understands the imperfect world where we have to make hard decisions on where we put our cross on the ballot paper.
In the Old Testament, the books of 1 & 2 Kings are very much a sorry tale of the kings of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Each king is labelled either 'good' or 'evil.' Presumably this is more that just the writer's opinion, but God's. There were occasions when 'good' kings in part followed God but failed to deal with the crucial issue of idol worship. So how can they be 'good'? But that is the label that God gives them.
Perhaps it can help us when it comes to making our decisions. We have to decide what or who is 'good' to vote for, when there is often a mixture of policies that we may feel honour God right next to those that dishonour Him. God was able to weigh the good and the bad and even when there was a real mixture of 'good' and 'evil', make the judgement that such-and-such a king was 'good.' May God help us to discern what is 'good' amidst the mixture of 'good' and 'bad' policies we are presented with.
