by Pastor Joel Lawler

There is a term that the media seems to enjoy using far too much. Since the last election, it seems that the label "Religious Right" has to be thrown into the mix of any story that involves politics. This tag, unfortunately, has been earned. When tuning into the Christian radio, it is sometimes hard to tell the difference in programming to that of Conservative talk radio.

The issues that we in the U.S. face today are temporary. Jesus prayed that we would be one (united at heart). Politics has crept in and has divided the church against itself (here in the U.S. and globally). To some, their party affiliation and even nationality has become an idol. We, as Christ's church, have to repent and rise above being a "voting block." Kingdoms come and kingdoms fall (and yes, the U.S. will not escape this fate) but the cause we are called to is an eternal one.

Religious leaders of his day tried to trap Jesus with the hot political topic of his day which was obeying the Roman government. Jesus brilliantly framed the issue and pointed to a higher cause.

Mark 12:15-17 (New International Version)  - "Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to

him and said, "Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?"

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him."

We need to stay actively engaged in our government. The freedom that we have been given bears a tremendous responsibility of doing our civic duty. We need to vote and be vocal on issues. What we cannot do is allow anything to distract us from the cause that Christ has placed in our hearts and that is to love others as he loves us and to share what he has done for us in dying for

our sins.
We simply cannot allow ourselves to be fenced in or even build walls that will divide us from the very people Jesus came to save. His sacrifice was too costly and his gift of salvation is too precious to allow anything to come between us and liberally passing his love on to anyone and everyone.

"If you look at history you find that the people who made the most difference in this life were those who were most concerned with the life to come. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither." - C.S. Lewis

We, who follow Christ, must set our sights higher than winning at the ballot box. We must aim at the highest goal possible and that is sharing the love of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
.