Jesus Does Not Have A Multiple-Personality Disorder

I read a disheartening, yet challenging CNN article a few days ago. As all articles in the American media for the last few months, it was about the presidential election. It was entitled, “Do you believe in a red state Jesus or a blue state Jesus?“. Its main premise was that in Christianity, liberals and conservatives choose to see Jesus in different ways. One side sees Jesus as a champion of the poor, the other side thinks Jesus would be more concerned with issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. It predicted that tonight, after the election results have come in, those in the one camp would will fall on their knees and pray, “Thank you Jesus.” The other side would moan, “Help us Jesus.” It stated, “Good luck to anyone who tries reconciling their Jesus with the biblical accounts of his life.”

It struck home for me, because I knew it was partly true. The christians in america are sharply divided by their political leanings. Both sides are fervently convinced that God’s party is either the republicans or the democrats. The christian culture may have divided itself over politics, but never fear, Jesus does not have a multiple-personality disorder.

There may be red state and blue state christians, but there is only one Jesus.

Jesus defines us, we can never define Him. If we are “choosing to see Jesus in different ways”, we are creating a Jesus in our own image. This is a fictitious character of our own imagination. A Jesus filtered through our own biases. The real Jesus is a living being – The Living Being, who holds us all in existence, not some nebulous historical character who we can mold to fit our political and social preference. He is the one who does the molding.

Admittedly, it is challenging to apply Jesus’ teachings to our modern day political context, but there are a two vital things we need to remember:

First of all we need to realize that God is sovereign, even over governments and rulers.”Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Romans 13:1. God’s good plan for creation will continue to move forward no matter the outcome of elections.

Secondly, there will be no perfectly good and just government until Christ returns and takes His throne. Men are all sinners and imperfect rulers. No politician or political party is what we need for peace and justice in our land. We need Jesus, and until he comes back we will not fully see this peace. Don’t put your hope in man, put it in God.

So, let’s relentlessly pray and trust in God’s sovereign power. Let’s stop fashioning our own versions of Jesus. Let’s dig into the scriptures. Let’s pray again. Let’s allow Jesus to define us. God cares far more about our hearts than political systems. Let’s vote with our good conscience, but know that until Jesus returns all our politicians will eventually fail us. Finally, let’s hope only in Jesus – our true King, “who sways the scepter of the universe”.