As the ramifications of last night’s elections ripple across the globe there will be many words thrown across the pages of history about this moment. Sitting and surveying the aftermath of Facebook was probably one of the more entertaining parts of the night. But I think it is important to note that this election has deeply divided the Church in America. As many of my Christian friends here at school hail the end of the Republic as we know it, I found it interesting that my father, an immigrant himself, and many older Christians hailed the election as a miracle from God.
Now I’ll be frank and say that I don’t necessarily agree with my father but it does give me pause to examine what it is that worries me the most about a Trump presidency. Here’s a few thoughts that have been prominently on my mind.
1. I’m afraid not of what Trump will do, but what the Church will do. There should be caution in whichever candidate we choose to put our faith in, namely that the faith we place in them be the faith that God will be working in their leadership, especially when we disagree with them the most.
2. The Church also does not need political power to fulfill the purpose Jesus called us to. This message is true for the believers who voted for Trump as well as the believers who voted against him. Our purpose to share the Gospel has not changed, instead the context in which we do it has. In the end Trump will not save America and neither will Clinton. In fact we aren’t called to save America but to follow the One who can.
3. We don’t know the future. God may very well have made things better or worse and we will not know until it happens. Rather than worrying we can proceed all the more urgently with His promise in our minds.
Trump will no doubt fail. Clinton would have definitely failed as well. I think we sometimes forget that Washington and our founding fathers failed. The Articles of Confederation don’t exist anymore and our current Constitution is penned by men. But God wrote us a letter with a promise that we should best remember. His Word formed the heavens and the earth and in Him we trust.