The Answer

I intentionally don't take an active interest in politics. It's not because I don't care. It's not because I'm naive and think it doesn't affect me or because I find it boring. It's none of those things. I don't invest myself in things political because it seems abundantly clear to me that those things are so very NOT the answer. Neither side, neither party.

However it is that Christianity came to be so closely identified with a particular political party is well beyond me. When did it get that small? George Bush didn't ruin our country and Barack Obama is not ruining it either. And there is not a man or woman in either party who is the answer.

I have plenty of opinions. I have my own ideas about what's right and best and fair. I have opinions about taxation and healthcare. But I know without question that more or less taxes is not the answer. Healthcare--whether we have it or don't--is not the answer either.

I have some really passionate feelings about immigration and how highly I regard a man who builds a raft and then sets sail on it across an ocean, steeled with hope. Who can denigrate that and why would they want to? Who deserves to live here anyway? And who is it that feels so comfortable making that judgment? But resolving the immigration issue is not the answer.

I believe the prerogative we have to take a baby's life before she's born is tragic and heartbreaking and wrong and I think our country will reap the consequences of its decisions--how many brilliant, talented people that would have changed the face of our nation forever have not had the privilege of birth? How different our future will be from what it could have been! But putting an end to abortion forever is not the answer.

Capitalism is not the answer. Democracy is not the answer. Prayer in school is not the answer.

Jesus is the Answer.

Only Him. Every time.

How ridiculous it is to me to attach any great importance to what bill our Congress does or does not pass, when it cannot possibly be the answer to anything at all.

Apart from Jesus, everything will fail. Apart from Jesus' plan of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you, everything will corrupt. Jesus is the Answer. He is Life. Without Him, everything will rot and spoil and die.

I see people that I love putting hope in things that might be meaningful, but still, they are not the answer. They are systems and methods of coping with our fallen-ness, not answers. Some methods are more successful than others, but coping is not the answer. The answer is the only One who can save us out of our fallen-ness and eternally redeem our lives.

I really don't have it in me to spend a lot of time or energy discussing politics, whether or not I agree with the conversation. It is just so NOT the answer.