Elections, politics and opportunity!

We’re jumping in head first this week to talk about something that gets a lot of people’s blood pumping: politics!

What we’re NOT going to do is analyze candidates or talk specifics about a particular administration. I want to zoom out and take this once-in-four-years opportunity to examine the ways we can apply the gospel in our parenting around a cultural topic like an election.

Here in the U.S., we’ve experienced a few rounds of tumultuous campaigning and election cycles over the past decade-plus. Lots of division, lots of big feelings, lots of hopes put on various candidates for various reasons.

One thing that caught my attention this time around was the chatter between 10-year-old boys in our neighborhood. I heard big sweeping criticisms and harsh attacks out of the mouths of young children.

I want us to consider the ways we as parents react to an issue like the U.S. Presidential election - both leading up to and afterward - and what those reactions communicate to our kids about God. Because the way we interact with and respond to our world always communicates something we believe about God.

For example, if we choose despair or disbelief when our preferred candidate doesn’t win, it can demonstrate to our kids that we don’t really trust that God is in control of all things. If we believe God is sovereign, then our hopes are not on a human leader but on Him.

“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings;
he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”
Daniel 2:21

It’s good and necessary to have dialogue around our political process, to express concerns and to identify candidates with priorities that align with our own. But how are we having these conversations - especially in front of our children? Paul exhorts his readers in Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Let’s consider a positive example: If your child asks about a political sign in your neighbor’s yard that you disagree with, you’ve got a lot of choices in how you can respond. Here’s an option that can point back to God’s glory: “The election is coming up, and because we live in a free country, people can put signs in their yard to show who they want to vote for. Isn’t it great that God has blessed us to live in a country where people have the freedom to put signs in their yard if they want to?”

An election is just one of a million cultural moments where children are watching and learning, but everything’s a bit amplified. As believers, it gives us a really practical opportunity to show our kids the hope we have in Jesus: That He is in control. That we can trust Him in all things. And that we can love those who disagree with us.

“Sing praises to God, sing praises;
    sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is the King of all the earth;
    sing to him a psalm of praise.”
-Psalm 47:6-7