There is this popular question we used to ask back in my
university days. It brought a lot of confusion with people having different
perspectives and our leaders/elders being unusually silent about it. It goes
thus:
CAN A GOOD CHRISTIAN BE IN POLITICS?
Firstly, the following facts have to be stated:
- · The church and the world are two different entities, two different people; they are separate, so much so that the Bible warns the church a lot of times against the world. The church is not the world and the world is not the church
- · The church is not the building on your street either
- · The church is Christ own people called out of the world and chosen to be a peculiar people, a chosen generation, a holy nation. They are saved and have been washed by the blood of Jesus and live to please Him
- · The church is not all the Christians we have in the world today because a lot of people profess to be part of the church and are not
- · The church is not your denomination
- · The church is in the world and has influence on the world but not authority over it.
Now you know what the church is and is not.
Another thing worthy of note is that the church is separated
from the world but not isolated from the world.
Therefore as a true Christian you have a responsibility,
first to the church and then to the world.
My focus here is on our responsibility to the world.
We are the light of the world, the salt of the earth. In
world full of all kinds of corruption, the only thing keeping the world from
falling off its edge is that we are in it as salt and light. We are to be the
model of what men and women should be. We are to show the world what God’s
design and purpose for man is.
I often hear people complain of why preachers in Nigeria are;
in their own words ‘silent about the government’. It is important to understand
that the preachers are called to a profession; to be leaders of the church and
nothing else, they can speak and tell that it is wrong and can pray, but there
is only so much they can do except they are called to it. Their sole
responsibility is to make sure the message of salvation is preached in the
entire world. Remember as I said earlier that the church could have influence
over the world but does not have authority over it except I special cases where
God intends to show His glory.
The church is a people called and chosen from every sphere
of life, so we are present in every area of life to be light and the salt, it
is not our job to change the world but it is our job to show the world the
right way and make it a better place by our actions. Just like every man has freewill,
the world has its freewill that we cannot change, our primary mission is to
show the world salvation through Christ and the one of the ways we can do that
is by being the voice of good in a world of evil.
So then, are we all called to be activist? Are we all called
to be politicians? I think not; because we do not need to be presidents,
governors, chairmen of local communities, captains of industry etc. to make our
world better and preach the message of salvation. We can be captains of
industry, CEOs, employers of labour, employees, politicians etc. only if our
service/mission to the world is a pointer of Salvation through Christ to the
world.
But I know that we are called to be the face of change in
the world. We are called to be the ones who make life better, show the people
there is a better way of living, and point them in the direction of God. That
show them the way of salvation.
Because even if we become presidents, governors etc. our
work remains incomplete if we have not shown the world the way of salvation.
However you choose to do that (the work of showing
salvation) is up to you, so long as it doesn’t take heaven from you, because
this world is temporary and will not last forever.
Finally, do you know that the church will judge the world?
We are not called to be judges of men’s actions in this world as Christ said
‘judge not so you will not be judged’, but we can be pointers to grace and when
the time is come, we can judge the world.
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