Who Your King Is is More Important than Who Your President Is

Choosing a President is Very Important

Choosing the next President of the United States is very important. 

The President of the United States . . .

    * leads the world’s most powerful military
    * is charged with protecting us from serious and dangerous threats around the world and within our own borders
    * is responsible to protect the constitutional freedoms and safeguards we are blessed with
    * oversees trillions of dollars collected and spent by our government
    * is a moral example, for good or bad
    * has an opportunity to influence our nation towards greater morality and light, or deeper immorality and darkness

So, I care a lot about who the next president is.  Especially during an election year, I often pray for our government and for the elections.  I’ve even written a couple of blog posts related to the election.

And I do have my own opinion.  For what it’s worth, if the North Carolina Republican Primary was tomorrow, I would vote for Marco Rubio.

Politics Can Be Discouraging

On the one hand, the Democrats have consistently supported, defended, and at times funded and promoted, forms of evil such as homosexuality and abortion.  Also, their “big government dream” tends to produce massive amounts of waste and debt.  I honestly can’t see myself ever voting for a Democrat.

On the other hand, the Republican Party is deeply divided.  The front runner seems to be a recent and questionable convert to conservative views (see a well written article on this here) and overall his life has been a terrible moral example.  Even if we elect someone who turns out to be a good President, it is far from certain that he or she can turn around the moral decline our nation has been on throughout most of my lifetime.

But there is Good News

I don’t know who our next President will be, but I know who will be King. The same One who has been King and always will be.  The King of Kings.  Ruler of the Universe and Lord of Creation.  Jesus!

We had the opportunity to live in Indonesia from 1996 until 2010.  When we arrived the government was far worse than any government the US has ever had (yes, far worse than it is under President Obama).  Did the corrupt government hurt the people?  Absolutely!  The government was part of the reason for widespread severe poverty that most Americans can’t even imagine.  And then there was the severe corruption of the justice system and the wide spread violence. And yet . . . many Christians there had the same peace, joy, and love that believers in Christ have here.  And in some ways, because their worldly situation was so bleak, it was easier to focus on the eternal realities we all should be focused on.

We should pray for a good government that brings peace (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  But, we should also remember that the gospel can spread, the church can grow, and Jesus can be glorified, even under the most corrupt, cruel, and oppressive governments.  No human government can prevent the Great Commission from being completed or our King from returning to establish His great Kingdom fully and eternally.

We Should Treat Jesus like the King He Is

Thankfully, God does not let us elect the King of Kings.  But He does, within limits, allow us to choose to willingly submit to Him as Lord, or to resist and rebel against Him.

In one way, if you’ve accepted Jesus, He is and always will be your King.  But in another way, we each make many decisions every day which involve either treating Jesus as King or acting as if we ourselves are King of our own lives.  I constantly have to choose how to spend my time, what to look at, where to go, what to say and how to say it, how to treat people, and more. Whenever I choose what Jesus wants me to choose, I am honoring Him as King.  Whenever I don’t, I am acting as if I would like to elect someone else as King (like myself).

So, deciding who to vote for is really important.  Yet, every day, we make decisions which are just as important (sometimes much more important) when we decide who to treat as King in our lives.

So Let’s Choose and Give Thanks for King Jesus

I hope you’ll vote.  I hope you’ll pray for our government.  But even more . . .

the next time you feel discouraged about politics, or feel tempted not to treat Jesus as your King, or just need some spiritual encouragement, I hope you might watch or rewatch this video, and choose to honor Jesus and give thanks for our King: