Teaching Kingdom Principles

There's a lot of buzz going around with the coming election. The tension builds on every side, party, and platform. In the midst of all this, Christians must keep the gospel central. I found this person's perspective to be inspirational and valid.


In today's church, one reason young people are disillusioned with the role of Christians in politics is because we often teach them only part of God's statutes, not all-and we rarely teach them kingdom principles. We are quick to teach about judgment, self-righteousness, and our perception of holiness, but we often leave out the kingdom principles of love, compassion, justice, and the sovereignty of Christ in shaping our political affairs.
We teach our own political traditions-instead of the ways of Christ-becoming enforcer, judge, and jury toward the sinful lives of others. We seem to forget that we all are sinners saved by grace-a loving, compassionate, merciful Grace who did not try to legislate hell out of us, nor give us what we deserved, but who gave his Son as a substitute, a redeemer for our sins.
Make no mistake-there are principalities, powers, rulers of this dark age, against which the church must stand. But we wrestle not against the flesh and blood of our fellow humans who sin.
For each generation, God has a sovereign plan for their role in the political process. We do a disservice to the coming generations if we try to force our political methods and mindset on the issues they face. If we teach our children all the statutes of God and things pertaining to his kingdom-although it may mean putting aside our own ways of doing things-we can trust that God's purposes for the coming generation will be fulfilled.


Rev. Jannah Scott
currently on assignment as policy advisor
Faith & Community Initiatives, Office of the Governor, Arizona