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Election Year 2024
A few thoughts about politics from a non-politician
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made Myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible… I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
— 1 Cor 9:19,22b–23 (NIV, emphasis added)
I am politically unaffiliated, not because I don’t have opinions or because there are no issues for which I feel strongly. I do, and there are, but I don’t want whatever political label I may wear to become an unnecessary stumbling block to anyone. Like Paul, this is one small way that I can put into practice Paul’s admonition to “become all things to all people” (1 Cor 9:19–23). I would count it a success if anyone and everyone who talked to me felt that I was someone who liked them, cared about them, and (at the very least) made an effort to understand them.
As a Christian, let alone a pastor, I find that people have a handful (and sometimes a bucket-full) of assumptions about who I am, what I think on a wide variety of issues, and what kind of person I am. Many assume that I’m not the kind of person they would enjoy being around. Like Jesus, I’d really like to be the kind of person that people, regardless of their faith commitments (or lack thereof), enjoyed being around…