My 4-year-old has a curious word choice as he plays with his toys. He recently got into batman, and his grandparents gave him some action figures this past Christmas. So when he is playing, he says that the joker is coming for batman to “distract” him. He means destroy but he is much more familiar with the word distract.
Over the weekend, I thought that the joker in our story, the devil, does the same thing. he means to destroy us, but (one way) he does so with distractions. How often have I done less for the kingdom merely because I was distracted? Too often, I’m afraid to admit.
As I mentioned yesterday, I have never been very political. I believe that God calls us to be good citizens, and to take our responsibility seriously as citizens. That said, many times it seems that politics distracts us from who our allegiance really belongs to.
In Jesus for President, Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw say that “having power at its fingertips, the church often finds ‘guiding the course of history’ a more alluring goal than following the crucified Christ.” Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be political, just that we should remember that our hope does not rest in the governmental systems and people of the world, but in the one, true King. He places monarchs and dictators and presidents and gives them their position.
I just finished reading through the book of Jeremiah, and in 43.10, God says, “Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them.” (emphasis mine). God is sovereign over all and to whom our allegiance ultimately lies.
In this voting year, let’s remember to love one another, to be respectful, and to serve Jesus. As Shane Claiborne says, “enough donkeys and elephants. It’s time for the Lamb.”
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In his book, Blink, Malcolm Gladwell talks about choice and spaghetti sauce. He says that having too many options almost paralyzes people and inhibits their choosing, rather than making it easier. I don’t know how many types and brands of spaghetti sauce there are, but I do know that there are hundreds, if not thousands of different small group Bible study materials available.
