Negative ads abound. The other candidate can’t do the job as well as my candidate can. The other will fail. The other doesn’t have a positive track record. He lies. Etc., etc. That doesn’t bother me when I see it on an ad or a political campaign. They know the American public responds well to negative publicity. If they want to win, they believe its their job to churn out lots of negative information about the other candidate on the air waves. Those don’t bother me.
However, when I hear negative talk coming from Christians, it bothers me a lot. Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of complaining. We complain about the state of our country. We complain about the political process. We gripe about supreme court decisions and about supreme court justices. We grumble about our president, senators and congressmen. We whine about the lack of family values in our country. In other words, we murmur and complain and we do it a lot.
What happened to Christians who pray and keep themselves from speaking ill of others?
We also criticize. I am not talking about constructive criticism, nor am I talking about pointing out things that are important for guarding our hearts against lies and sin. Instead, I am talking about the mean-spirited jokes and mocking of those for whom we are supposed to pray. We’re commanded to pray for those in authority over us and even for those who despitefully use us. Instead we ridicule and vilify those with whom we disagree. Have we become just like the world around us? Is there no difference?
Instead of being people of joy, peace, patience, gentleness, and love, we ha
So for the rest of the political season and beyond, I want to be a person of prayer – someone who will pray instead of criticize and rejoice instead of grumbling. I want to be a light in this dark world.
Will you join me?
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