Jesus is an invitation and a chance and a summons to a different way of life. And we are always deciding.

The Christian life can be tricky at times. Christians aren’t perfect. In fact, most of us are very aware of our faults and flaws. One of the main questions that comes up for Christians who are trying to understand what it looks like to follow Jesus more closely is this: why am I so easily distracted from the sort of life that I know I should be living.

Each of us has doubts from time to time. We struggle with temptation and with uncertainty. Struggle isn’t necessarily a sign that you’ve left the path. It just means that the path can be rocky and difficult to walk at times. The above quote by Walter Brueggemann reminds us that Jesus’ invitation to a new life is one we have to choose over and over again. We are always deciding what sort of life we would like to live, and what sort of people we hope to be. That’s not a bad thing. It just means that these sort of decisions are really big, and need to be reaffirmed along the way.

If you have lost sight of who you are and what you are about, now might be a good time to accept again Jesus’ invitation to a new sort of life. We all stumble, but God is always eager to help us back to our feet.

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Kingdoms don’t last forever.

Neither do empires.

Or democracies.

Or republics.

Or monarchies.

I love our country. I am patriotic. I love reading about our history, and embrace our great strengths, and acknowledge our weaknesses as well. As much as I love our nation, our well-being can never come from the status or stability of America. I hope we stay strong. I hope we affect the world in good ways. I hope the people of our nation  benefit from good decisions made by our government. But I know that our government will not always make good decisions. We have made bad decisions in the past, and we will enact bad policies in the future as well.  I also know that like every other empire or world power, our time on life’s stage is limited. The United States is not the hope of the world. I hope that we offer hope where we can, and impact people for good, and believe we have at times. But the U.S. isn’t perfect, and it isn’t forever.

Our well-being can only come from a kingdom that is stable and unending. That is the kingdom that Jesus talked about during his ministry on earth. That is the kingdom he has invited us all into. It’s a kingdom that knows no geographic bounds. It’s a kingdom that is bigger than the imperfections of it’s members, because it is built on the forgiveness, grace, and power of God.

So, is it possible that the candidate we choose on November 8^th will make decisions that hurt our nation and compromise our future. Yes, it’s possible. For many people it seems probable, whichever candidate is chosen. That’s not great, but our hope is in a kingdom that will sustain us during difficult times. Jesus closed his model prayer with the assurance that the only true and lasting kingdom is in God’s hands (“thine is the kingdom”), and those hands are reliable. Your hope will only be as strong as the source of your hope. If your hope for the future relies on government and politicians, you will find yourself anxious and fearful much of the time.  If your hope is in a God who is bigger than any government, you are more likely to have a hope that endures challenging times.

So, our own prayer during the next weeks and month may need to be, “for thine is the kingdom…”. Whisper it to yourself during the day and remember it when you are falling asleep. God cares about you, and He is in control even when the world seems out of control.

The post Avoiding Election Stress (Part 2) first appeared on Michael Ramsey.

Last week was another amazing week at Mission Serve. Mission Serve is an organization that brings together student groups from multiple states to join together to impact people in need in various communities. Last week over 250 students and leaders gathered in Robbinsville, NC to help build handicap ramps, put new shingles on homes, and paint and repair as needed. It was an amazing week that proved what teenagers today are capable of.

During a special prayer service last week, we meditated on a prayer by St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me and instrument of your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, let me grant pardon;

Where there is doubt; let me have faith

Where there is despair, let me bring hope

Where there is darkness, let me be light

And where there is sadness, let me bring joy.

It’s a simple prayer, written over 800 years ago, but it still resonates powerfully for our world today. The most common reaction we have as people is to hate those who hate us, to return injury for injury. We get dragged under by waves of doubt, and allow despair to cloud our vision. St. Francis’ prayer is a reminder that our faith is not to be reactionary. If we wait to react to what the world around us does, we will end up making decisions that are not consistent with what we say we believe. The Christian life is a proactive life.

Loving those who hate us is only possible if we commit ahead of time to love. Our natural reaction when we are hated is to become defensive and to strike back. It’s only when we anticipate that hatred will come at times, and decide long before it arrives to meet it with love, that we have any chance of sowing love where hatred exists.

I would love for my life to be defined by peace, love, forgiveness, hope, light, and joy. But the only chance we have to embrace those things is to determine ahead of time that they will be our goal. An amazing thing about proactivity is that it eventually improves our reactivity. When we embrace joy and love and forgiveness over time, it begins to be our new normal. When that happens we are more likely to handle those unexpected challenges that life throws at us more effectively.

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