As Rishi Sunak announces a UK general election for Thursday 4th July. Jenny Sanders reminds us, ’There is a bigger, kingdom picture unfolding beyond politics, beyond the seismic social and value shifts going on around us.’
Are you feeling weary of relentless bad news? Do you scan headlines and find yourself switching off? Desensitised? Disinterested? With local elections just past, and a general election approaching, you may be sliding into cynicism.
You’re not alone. Two years ago, a broad sheet journalist lambasted us with the headline: ‘Britain is fed up, bitter and practically broke, and it’s all going to get worse’[1]. Not much hope offered there.
You’ll probably hear the same sentiments at work and in the Church but cynicism is an inappropriate place to live for those who are following Jesus. It sucks us dry because it’s a world view which takes God out of the picture. Cynicism leaves us relying on our own flawed intuition, ‘common sense’ or wishful thinking – all operating outside the context of God’s kingdom.
cynicism is an inappropriate place to live for those who are following Jesus.
People can be naturally optimistic or pessimistic, but the outlook of both represents eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (as depicted in Genesis). In other words, we are deciding whether something, or someone, is good or bad based on their perceived merit and according to our personal preferences. Our thoughts, words and actions flow from those decisions; but if we’ve made them in reference only to ourselves then we’ve made the same error as was made in Eden.
God’s plan was not that we follow a restrictive code of right and wrong, but that we lean into our relationship with him understanding, hearing and knowing his heart in all the decisions we need to make. Jesus did just that, doing only what the Father told him to do.
Jesus never put his trust in people because he knew what was in each one of them
The choices we face are not binary. There is a bigger, kingdom picture unfolding beyond politics, beyond the seismic social and value shifts going on around us. As followers of Jesus, our hope lies not in people or circumstances but in God who is unchanging, unfailing, loving, faithful, kind, true. It’s easy to get ‘weary in doing good’ (Galatians 6:9) but Jesus never did. How come?
Jesus never put his trust in people because he knew what was in each one of them.[2] We shouldn’t either. The fruit of people’s lives indicates what’s inside them and what sort of people they really are more accurately than any election pamphlet.
The Amplified Bible says that our hope is not the sort that ‘hopes’ it doesn’t rain on our planned outing, but something that is ‘divinely guaranteed’[3]. Jesus embodies that hope.
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We misstep when we put our trust anywhere else but in him. When we give inappropriate weight or value to people and/or things, we get disappointed. Jesus never disappoints. ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.’ (Romans 10:11 NCV).
The early church lived in the time of Nero: a terrifying season of persecution and torturous death. Living out Kingdom values was far from comfortable. Following Jesus was beyond dangerous.
Jesus never offered to solve all our problems, but he did offer to walk through them with us. How we live, regardless of the times and political temperature, requires God at the hub. He is the only authentic antidote to cynicism.
There’s no such thing as perfect leaders and we must cast our votes wisely and pragmatically – the least worst candidate may be our best option. Astonishingly, women have only had the vote for less than 100 years. Let’s enjoy that privilege and use it judiciously.
[1] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2022/06/29/britain-fed-bitter-practically-broke-going-get-worse/
[2] John 2:23-25 RSV
[3] Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible
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