“Love One Another” – Even During Election Season

Many of my conservative friends don’t see eye-to-eye on this year’s election, and I suspect I’m not alone.
Scroll through social media, go to churches across the country – goodness, go to a family dinner table! – and you might see good, sincere Christians with differing opinions on who to elect for president and how to think through the voting process.
For some evangelicals, it might be the first time they’ve faced this level of disagreement with their family or church community over a presidential election.
And that can cause stress.
Studies show 52 percent of U.S. adults said the last presidential election was a “very or somewhat significant source of stress.”
Now, as a nonprofit, Focus on the Family isn’t legally allowed to endorse candidates – and besides, I don’t even want to talk about the candidates today. I’ll leave those conversations to others.
What I do want to do today is encourage you towards unity with your brothers and sisters in the faith.
I’ve found that it can be clarifying to go back to time-honored principles during times of uncertainty or disagreement. That’s why I want to share some values that have served well in the past – and remain true today.
The first – and greatest of these – is love. “And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:23)
For those of us who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, there is more that unites us than divides us – even during this election season.
One of Jesus’ last prayers was for unity among believers, and that unity can exist even when we have disagreements – indeed, that’s been happening for millennia. So let’s take this opportunity to model to the world – and our children – how to disagree well and love our neighbor.
How do we do that?
By treating each other with civility and respect, and by not doubting the good intentions of those we disagree with.
We do it by not shrinking back from honest discussion, although the apostle Paul reminds us to avoid petty quarrels (2 Timothy 2:23).
We do it when we try to understand where our brothers and sisters are coming from, and attempt to “bridge this chasm” by truly listening to each other.
We can do it by engaging the political process with integrity and honesty: not defending our candidate at all costs or destroying their candidate at all costs. Like Kevin DeYoung points out, “the church must show a better way.”
We do it by voting, because voting shows we care about our neighbor. (And even for those of you who might abstain from voting for president, there are many down-ballot races at the state and local level, many referendums on the ballot, and many judicial retention elections that Christians can influence for good.
And finally: we can strive towards unity by not reproaching our brothers and sisters if the result of the election doesn’t go the way we were personally hoping and praying for.
After all, on Nov. 4, the day after the election, American Christians need to come together to continue living out our mission to share the Gospel, feed the poor, care for the widow and orphan, support the abortion-minded woman, and be a prophetic voice in the culture. That’s why I pray we can conduct ourselves today in a manner that will help us continue to work together to fulfill our mission tomorrow.
So I ask you: Engage well. Love each other. And pray. Pray for your decision, your church, and our country. And commit to praying over whoever ultimately becomes president.
’Tis the season for holiday reading!
Check out Daily Citizen’s cheery winter reads.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jim Daly is an author and broadcaster, president of Focus on the Family and host of its daily radio broadcast, which is heard by more than 6.6 million listeners a week and has been honored as Program of the Year by the National Religious Broadcasters. Under his leadership, the ministry has reinvigorated its traditional focus on marriage and parenting. In just the last 12 months, 610,000 couples have built stronger marriages and 697,000 moms and dads built stronger, healthier, and more God-honoring families with the help of Focus on the Family. Daly is an author whose latest book, “When Parenting Isn’t Perfect,” released in 2017. In it, he encourages parents to realize that they, like their children, aren’t perfect and don’t need to be – they’re called to do their best in Christ, knowing that God works through all the messy family situations that are a normal part of this life. Daly and his wife, Jean, have two sons and live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.