CINDY MALLETTE: God is Bigger Than Politics

09 September 2010

EDITOR'S NOTE: Cindy Mallette is a former journalist reporting on government. She is currently working in the Texas State Capital of Austin on behalf of a nonprofit organization advocating lower taxes and gun rights

By CINDY MALLETTE

I'm going to ask you to take a minute and consider the state of our world. Consider the poverty, the economy, the wars, the suffering. In times like these, especially in America, we begin to engage in political battles, sure that our answer (of either more -or less - government intervention) is the best answer.
I've been working in the political arena for two years now  and in this time, God has given me a fresh perspective about who he is and what he's doing in this world. Times are tough right now, scary in fact. Who knows what the future holds for America?

I am confronted with this question on a daily basis. What I've come to realize is simply this:
God is bigger than government.
In fact, His plan for our nation, our world, and our individual lives carries much more weight than whether or not we live under a representative form of government that is responsive to the people it serves.
Think about this; Jesus  came on the scene in the middle of a politically turbulent time for the nation of Israel. They were subjects of the Roman Empire who were refused the right to vote, all the while being taxed at 90 percent of their income (what would our Founding Fathers think?! Tea party, anyone?)  But Jesus did not come to be a political savior -- he came to liberate our souls!
God cares about our hearts.
One thing I've been confronted with while working in politics is the terrible, "Us versus Them" attitude that develops. This bitterness drives people apart because of nonsensical differences of opinion. Why should I say about my neighbor that he is a no better than a socialist Nazi, for example, simply because we disagree about the way to take care of the poor?
This kind of attitude kills love, and we lose any hope of reaching a person's heart.
While my job may ask me to take a political stand every day on behalf of tax-paying Americans, I realize that lower taxes and limited government are just the periphery. God 's love for mankind is the focus.
I work each day to ensure  America remains free, to protect our God-given rights set forth in the Constitution. But I have come to understand that those rights simply entitle us to the ability to love and worship our Creator in the most personal way.
What our founders escaped in Britain was the oppressive government mandate that dictated the manner and mode in which a person could worship God. Our founders understood that God -- the indescribably holy and magnificent creator of this universe - simply could not be put in a box tied up with doctrinally-appropriate ribbons. No; the God of our founders is one that sets men free, who meets each of us on an intimate level;  who reveals to us his various and incredible attributes  through the flight of an eagle over the Grand Canyon just as much as He does through the raising of voices in praise.
What is truly under attack in our nation - and the world - is our freedom to worship God in the way He has individually revealed for us to do.  And not only to worship, but to freely share the truth of this amazing life of forgiveness and freedom with our fellow man.
God has given each of us a great commission - to go and make disciples. We must follow that mandate no matter what form of government we live under.  But  let us count our infinite blessings that we still have this wonderful freedom in our nation and do what we can to protect it, as long as God provides this blessing to us.