It seems that, other than sin itself, two things feel dirty to 21st century Millennial Christians: money and politics. It’s as though money can only be touched by fingers sticky with greed and politics can only be entered by lives stained with power and corruption.
However, when Christians sidestep politics and wash their hands of anything other than minimalism when it comes to money, large portions of the world as we know it lose Christian influence.
Money deserves a dedicated discussion, but suffice it to say, simplistically so, that there would not be nearly so many effective Christian ministries today without the Christians behind the scenes who fund them.
As for politics, there are at least five reasons why Christians ought to stand their ground, speak up, and stay involved:
1) Politics wasn’t a foreign business to Biblical heroes.
While some claim that, since Jesus did not spend much time speaking about Roman politics, Christians should refrain from speaking out about American politics, this hardly shows the whole picture. Jesus came specifically as the spiritual Messiah, not as the political and military Messiah many were expecting.
When taken as a whole – as was always intended – the Bible provides plenty of examples of political Christians. David the king, the “man after God’s own heart,” was chosen by God to be the political leader of His people. The judges in the Old Testament were also often chosen by or directed by God Himself to politically and militarily lead Israel. Esther was placed in a political position – the queen of a foreign nation – to affect God’s plan.
The prophets themselves spoke directly about the politics of their day, not backing away from influencing national leaders. And, in Romans 13, the rulers are referred to twice in one verse as “God’s servant/s.” Of course, this does not require that political leaders are Christians, but it certainly does not preclude them, either.
2) Sin is rampant in any profession.
Politics does indeed swim in a sea of corruption – both moral and monetary. There is no debate that power puffs up. And yet, drugs and immorality are rampant in the entertainment industry. The business world runs with greed and has associations with human trafficking. Christian ministry itself is hardly immune.
So why is politics the preferred profession called out by many Millennial Christians as the one to run from? In any profession or calling, Christians must seek the power of God to resist temptation and turn from sin. That is not unique to politics, and it is high time Christians realized this.
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SOURCE: The Christian Post
Kristi Burton Brown
BCNN1 WP 