Imagine if …

Over the past twenty years, I watched conservative Evangelicals vex over the election of Barack Obama, rejoice over Donald Trump, and wring their hands over Joe Biden. They love their country, no doubt, and they think if they can just get the right people in office with the right policies all would be well.

Let’s just imagine if all that came true.

Let’s imagine that with the right president and people in Congress, the government got completely out of debt, stopped running a deficit and even ran a surplus. A flat tax of 10% was instituted and businesses boomed, along with employment. These would be great things.

Freedom is part of the platform also. But doesn’t freedom often mean freedom from government’s regulation of businesses? And regulations that affect what businesses can and can’t do almost always and ultimately translate into dollars and cents.

Where it all ends up

Pick any hot topic: global warming, immigration, or DEI. For conservative Evangelicals, it usually comes back to economics.

If we accept global warming it means more government regulations, which means more expensive products and services for people and less profits for businesses. We argue undocumented aliens are taking our jobs and using government benefits, which is increasing our taxes and reducing our job opportunities. And DEI initiatives tip the scales in the competition for work–again, economics.

And all this brings us back to the same spot. Our politics are driven by economics, or to put it another way, “It’s the economy, stupid” — even if it’s labeled “immigration,” “DEI,” or “climate change.”

Now if you are a Christian and accept climate change, believe in pathways to citizenship for undocumented aliens and greater accountability for businesses, don’t leave yet. This is going somewhere that will be relevant to you as well.

But back to my original hypothetical–MAGA imagined: a small, surplus-running federal government, lower taxes, little or no illegal immigration, a level playing field in the job market. Would we be any more a Christian nation than we are today? A wealthy nation is no more Christian than a poor one. No more, no less, just like a wealthy person is no more Christian than a poor one.

If the left got what it wants

Or if you are a Christian of a different political persuasion, what if it was all reversed: a government that provided a safety net, education, and insurance for all, a path to citizenship for undocumented aliens, aggressive steps to confront climate change and rein in irresponsible businesses–would we be any more a Christian nation than we are today?

I believe the answer to both questions is “No.”

And if that is the case, it means we have made politics more important than it should be. Politics is important, particularly for the politician whom King Jesus has tasked with carrying out his or her role faithfully and in obedience to Him. It is important just as business, the arts, and the media are important.

But for the Christian who wants to see the kingdom of God manifest on the earth, politics is, frankly, overrated.Transforming America for the kingdom of God starts with recognizing the limitations of politics.

What does matter

And that leads me to what matters. Fundamentally, people doing well what they’re called to do is more important than policy when it comes to changing the world. And only Jesus makes better people.

A bad leader implementing a good policy can be worse than a good leader implementing bad policy. Jesus never advocated for a particular form of government. He seemed astonishingly disinterested in changing it — remember “render unto Caesar”?

What He did seem interested in was what kind of people Christians were to become.

What’s next

So, with that, we will proceed to the four things Christians could do that would change America in a generation.

And we will take up the first thing in the next post. GS