Another political fiasco in the news and another torrent of letters to our local newspaper. The opinions expressed were damning too, for and against, and the letters ran to two pages. How angry people get when it comes to politics.
Politicians infuriate and exasperate me too. I can’t stand their waffling on without answering the question, their inability to apologize, their patronising tone, their constant harping away at the other parties, and using questions they’re asked to put in a plug for their own party. I change channels when certain politicians come on. They are more than I can bear.
It surprised me to hear, then, that there are politicians who pray – and have people pray with them, too – because they know how politics can so easily corrupt people, and they don’t want it to happen to them. I was humbled! I’d dismissed all politicians as dishonest, devious and out of touch, but some clearly aren’t. They really are concerned about their God-given role to do good and stop evil (Romans 13:4). How quickly I judge without knowing the facts!
But that’s the culture we live in. It’s full of opinionated people, who talk as great authorities on any subject you care to mention. Talk radio fills up hours and hours of air time each day, encouraging people to express their opinions, regardless of whether they know the facts, or not, and I get caught up in it, too.
Fortunately, Jesus didn’t tell us to stop judging people, but when we do judge, do it well, that’s all. “Make a right judgment,” he said in John 7:24. How? “Stop judging by mere appearances.” Ah, that’s the problem. It’s judging a person based only on what he looks like to me.
Jesus, for instance, was being judged in John 7 for healing a man on the Jewish Sabbath. People actually wanted to kill him for it they were so angry (verse 19). Why? Because he didn’t fit their picture of what was right – and that was that as far as they were concerned! They weren’t the least bit interested in his reasons for doing what he was doing, or his motives. If Jesus agreed with them, he was fine. If he didn’t, they wanted him destroyed.
One day they will be very embarrassed when they meet Jesus face to face, and realize what they did. It was actually a very simple problem though, of making a wrong judgment based only on their limited view of him. It’s an easy problem, it seems, and I’m reminded of it every time a politician comes on TV!
Filed under: Prayer
