Before the election…

The longer I live, the more I realize that we simply don’t know who we truly are until we’re tested. We can vocalize our beliefs all day long, but when living those beliefs is hard—when upholding our principles carries a cost—that’s when we learn what we truly value. — David French

His comments HERE are powerful as we approach Election Day (FINALLY!).

It’s been a hard four years…

If I had to summarize the last four years in a single phrase, it would be simple—it’s been a time of testing. This time of testing has broken us and divided us. It’s divided us between those who are honest and those who lie, the cruel and the kind, the principled and the hypocrites, between the courageous and the cowardly.

While I agree with French’s analysis of the “prodigals coming home” (in his piece I link to above), I also know it’s an incomplete picture.

We have indeed been tested. The question in my mind is this: Have we truly KNOWN we’ve been tested? In other words, have we realized the test… or are we just waiting for things to “reset” so we can go back to the way things were?

If you are just hoping for a return to “normalcy” (being a “Christian America”), then my contention is you haven’t really realized the test. My thought is if there are still a large number of folks who claim Christ as their Savior still haven’t recognized the test, we are in for more testing. (And if you think I say that with any gladness, you just don’t know me.)

If, on the other hand, we have a true reckoning and those who claim Christ see what God is really trying to do and they “come home,” I wholeheartedly agree with French! The work in me is going to be a tough one because for over four years I have tried to warn and tried to call out what is Kingdom… and what is not… and far too often I have come away angry. Election Day solves nothing on that day. The work after is critical.

I bring this up as a “counter” to French’s article because I still one thing that has lacked in this time period: REPENTANCE.

I’m not talking about repentance over voting for Trump. LORD! We have far more going on than that!

In the past four years it’s been a reckoning with culturalized Christianity and we have not, as yet, truly dealt with deep sin in the American Church.

From the ongoing sexual scandals of the Roman Catholic Church to the revealing of sexual abuse in conservative churches on a widespread basis to the revealing of deep narcissism and abusive leadership in evangelical megachurches… the Lord has been pruning in a serious way in these last 4-5 years…

We have been seriously exposed in the culturalized Church for our complicity in racism and other injustices…

And none of it has led to a national call for repentance in the Church.

So, while I wholeheartedly agree with David French in his optimism and hope for the journey after the election… I am still in deep prayer because I fear we still seriously lack in what God is trying to bring out in us through this time period. We may have more work to do.

In this, I sincerely hope I am wrong.

But, on November 4 (or whenever we know results of the election), I say this: God help us all. God… have mercy.