I’ve recently begun listening to a really great (specialized) podcast called “Juicebox,” from a dad of a Type 1 Diabetic. Many years ago he started a blog called “Arden’s Day,” back in the day when there weren’t any others, and he is now one of the best-known voices about T1D. I found it so interesting that what started for him as an advocacy blog–an effort to motivate people to donate to the hunt for the cure–evolved into something very different: a way to bring hope to the families dealing with this disease.

As I listened to him, I didn’t get the sense that he was a man of faith…but I definitely came away knowing that he’s a man who loves his family and will do anything for them. He’s a man who counts as one of his worst memories the day he had to tell his three-year-old daughter that she wasn’t going to wake up cured on her fourth birthday just because that’s what she wished for when she blew out her candles. He’s a dad who has since made it his mission to keep hope alive in his little girl, despite the drudgery of day-to-day reality.

As I listened, I started to think about that deep-ingrained desire we have to hope. As Christians, we know our ultimate hope lives in Christ. And we tend to say things like “We can hope because of Him” or “How does anyone get through without faith?”

Here’s the thing though: people do. And as I was pondering it, I began to wonder if that’s because, just maybe, HOPE is another of the things humanity has that is modeled after God himself. If it’s part of “His image.”

Think about it. Think about the other things we know we have because we were made in His image. We are creative, as He is creative. We are intelligent as He is intelligent. We are capable of selfless love, as He first loved us. These aren’t things we necessarily see reflected elsewhere in the animal kingdom, at least not with consistency. No other animals compose symphonies or create art just for the pure enjoyment of it. No other creatures just sit around pondering things and then share those ideas with others in hopes that it could change culture or the world. And though plenty of animals will sacrificially protect their own young or can be trained to do so for humans, how often do you see one animal willing to go without food for an entirely different species? This selfless love is another human trait created in His image.

And then there’s hope. What other creatures hope for things they’ve never received? Never seen? Aren’t even sure are possible? But we do. All of us, not just Christians. Why?

We are beings who look always beyond the seen, the obvious, to the thing just out of reach. We, by nature, stretch ourselves toward the unattained, refusing to believe it’s unattainable. We hope. All of us. Because that’s the way God crafted humanity. As creatures who always cling to the belief that things could change, get better, that we could find that thing that we want or need. Even we have no evidence it could happen. Even when we don’t know how it would. Even when we’ve never seen anything like what we hope for.

The oppressed still hope for freedom and equality.
The blind still hope for sight.
The sick still hope for a cure.
The poor still hope for enough, and for more than enough.
The hungry still hope for a feast.
The dying still hope for life.

Whether we’re believers or not, we know that challenges and trials can make us stronger and better. Where faith can make a difference is that we know why and how. We know that our God is a God of hope–that if He did, in fact, instill this in us as part of His image, then it means it’s in the very fabric of creation, of God Himself. We know that hope has a substance–and it’s what we call faith.

We all have something that threatens that hope. We have “that thing.” Maybe it’s the diagnosis. Or the divorce. Or the failure. Maybe it’s the debt. Or the disability. Or the poverty. Whatever it is for you, it’s a real thing that really threatens your hope. It wears you down day after day. It hurts. It debilitates. It steals. It crushes. The weight of it, day after week after month after year, grinds us down and down and makes the hope seen thinner and thinner.

But maybe it’ll help to realize that hope isn’t some fleeting, ethereal thing. It too is real. It’s rooted in the very nature of God. It saw physical form in Christ. And it’s there, always, at the very heart of our faith, promising us that we can #BeBetter and do better and have better and know better and live better…

Because, first, we are made in His image.
And second, because we rest in Him.

It’s election season here in the US when I’m writing this post. If you’ve followed me for very long, you’ll have noticed that I never voice an opinion on politics per se. I have zero political agenda and, frankly, next to zero interest in politics, LOL. But I do have an interest in the Church and the body of believers. And as talk increases about elections and duties and moral obligations and who Christians “should” vote for, I want to chime in. Not with a political stance. But with a spiritual one. And I’ll begin with a statement some will probably find outrageous:

God is not on the side of any political party. Ever. God is not on the side of any political candidate. Ever.

And here’s where I get that.

Joshua 5:13-15, NIV

This was Joshua–the very man appointed by God to lead Israel after Moses died. But do you notice the response of the angel here? He was not on either side. The angelic warrior is on GOD’s side. And that, my friends, is our role too.

God is on no politician’s side–but a politician could be on God’s. Any of us can be–and SHOULD BE–on God’s. But we have to get the order straight. HIS will, HIS purpose, HIS righteousness comes first. Ours is secondary.

How often, though, do we get it backwards? How often do we make our own decisions–emotional, logical, or otherwise–and then pray afterward, “God, bless this!”? How often do we assume that our reading, our interpretation, our understanding of events is right and then search for Scripture to back us up…even though there are believers on the other side of the topic too? How often do we even make claims that if someone takes another stance than ours, they can’t possibly even be a Christian?

How often do we let our political leanings divide the body of believers? How often, when we pray for “unity,” do we really mean, “Lord, may everyone agree with me!”?

I hear so many prayers that we will be “a united nation under God again.” But friends, we never were. We were always a collection of states with different governments who sought different goals. We were a collection of people who wanted very different things and believed very different things. We were a nation made of many different religions, denominations, and convictions. My personal opinion is that we need to stop worrying about being a nation under God and start worrying about whether we’re a Church under God. We need to stop assuming we’re right and then praying God will make others see it, and start asking Him to show us HIS side; where HE is working; what HE desires, and how we can meet Him there…even if it means giving up an opinion.

Even if it means admitting that sometimes our political action and opinions may be hacking away at the body of Christ.

Because Christ didn’t come to create another nation here on earth–He came to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. He didn’t come to promote “Christendom.” He came to change individual lives. He didn’t come to do any earthly empire work. He came to give hope to the marginalized.

Christianity can certainly have a positive influence on a nation and politics. But politics will ALWAYS have a negative impact on Christianity. Why? Because it requires compromise. Because it’s built on promises that lose their efficacy once they’re fulfilled. Because those politicians and representatives are not elected to serve the Church–they’re elected to serve a diverse constituency and serve a government.

So in whom are we putting our trust? Our faith? Where do we spend our time and attention? Are we spending more time worrying over the country than the Church? If so, then that means we are citizens of our nation first and the Kingdom of God second. And that means we have it backwards. That means we decide on OUR side and then ask God to join us here.

A politician may be the Church’s ally…for a time. A season. When goals happen to coincide. But a politician is by definition someone serving the polis–the city, the state, the government. NOT just the Church. The Church is not a government in the earthly sense. And it shouldn’t be.

I firmly believe there have been and are godly men and women called to serve in the political arena to help achieve a particular goal. But I also firmly believe that the majority of politicians are merely pandering. I believe a politician can be an ally; but I know for a fact that whether they are or not is not the important thing. The important thing is this:

Are WE being God’s ally here on earth?
Are we on His side? Or just assuming He’s on ours because of X, Y, or Z?

My hope does not rest in a political party or any elected official. My hope does not rest in America being a Christian nation. My hope rests in God moving among the hearts of the faithful. My hope rests in the Lord calling people all the louder in times of persecution. My hope rests in the Church taking care of its own, not waiting for any government service to do it for us.

My hope rests in being FIRST a citizen of heaven…and only secondarily a citizen of the land where I live. And that shift in perspective has changed my every view of the world around me. Because all of a sudden it doesn’t matter if other people agree with me–it matters only that I seek daily to make sure I am in agreement with Him.

Ultimately, the Church has only one Ally. And He is the greatest Ally anyone could ever want. Because He doesn’t stand on our side before men: He stands at our side before God and pleads our case. He has won for us the ultimate battle–not in a voting both, but on the cross. We can’t vote for Jesus. But we can live for Him, day by day, word by word, step by step.

Let’s stop arguing about politics, friends. And let’s start loving our neighbors, no matter their party, as He would.