Family Before Politics

Is anyone still having division in your family over politics? Today I heard the best quip I've heard about this. She said, "Trump will come and Trump will go, but family will still be there." Seems simple enough to me, but some people can't seem to see things this way. On the other hand, maybe it isn’t about politics at all. Maybe it’s about something else. My thoughts were along those lines. I was simply thinking, our American representative republic has been here a long time. Maybe things have not been this chaotic before, but I really doubt it. The more I read about the history of our country, the more I see that we have gone through many difficult times and we still have a Constitution and we still have a country, and, all in all, we are doing pretty darn good. But that's just me, I guess. So, in terms of peacefully existing in our families, perhaps our family relationships should take precedence over our political preferences. But some people are completely losing it over the things that are happening right now. I am not. I was pretty upset with the previous administration, but it never entered my mind to leave the country or even to march in the street. However, spiritully, if anyone is born again, they are "a different creature," according to the Bible. We hear fairly often about this verse, but it begins with "Therefore," so, looking at the verse before that, (actually, go back three verses) it says, "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. "Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:14-17). What does it mean to "regard no one according to the flesh?" Well, I think it refers to the fact that if we have been converted to Christ we are standing on different ground altogether from anyone who has not been converted. That does not mean we can't have relationships with them or love them, on the contrary, we are commanded to love, but it means we are now citizens of different universes: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world, they are two completely different configurations. Let that sink in for a moment. If we are to regard no one according to the flesh, that essentially means that people are no longer "joined at the hip" in the flesh with anyone, family member, best friend, or whatever, we are on different planes completely. This has become more and more pronounced in recent years, as we get closer to the events spoken of in the Bible about the return of Jesus and all the rest of the events prophesied in the Bible about which most non-Christians have probably heard very little if anything. Please forgive me if you have been diligently sharing about these things. I have been more or less involved with daily life in a world where I realize more and more each day that I am "not of this world," and they are not in the "kingdom of God." The change we undergo as believers in Jesus is altogether transformative in ways most of us try but have difficulty describing in mere words. I have kept things very simple with most of my non-believing friends and acquaintances. I have believed since I was converted that God intended for relationships to be the foundation of our existence, and, also of our evangelism--personal evangelism, that is. We are not all called to preach from pulpits. Most of us operate from ordinary jobs and if we are going to make an impression on anyone for the kingdom of God it is going to begin with friendship or work-related circumstances. Many believers in Jesus are the only Christians in their family, and I personally think that's a high calling. It can be very difficult. Jesus told his disciples these chilling words: "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. But I have come to set a man against his father a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household'" (Matthew 10:34-36). And I am just going to leave it there for now. Goodnight.