My Presidential Cup of Tea

Every day I take an 18 minute trip to work and then again 18 minutes back home. Sometimes I travel to and from work twice whenever I eat lunch at the house. It may be a sign of my age but I can't seem to find any of "my" music on the radio, so I end up listening to a lot of talk radio and news. Lately I hear a lot about the "race for president" and how important this next president will be.

The next president will probably appoint four Supreme Court Justices.

The next president will have to end the war in Iraq, and hopefully end more wars than he starts.

There is a 50% chance that the next president will start drawing Medicare while he is signing bills about it.

I know that a lot of people have already made up their minds about who they will vote for, but I still have to add my ten cents. Who would Jesus vote for? I have thought this several times in the last week, and I'm at a loss for answers. If Jesus could have voted back in the day between, say, Herod the Great and Archelaus, who would he have voted for? Would he have voted at all?

Would Archelaus' policies be better for the Roman economy? Would Herod have lowered the taxes? Who would build the next phase of the temple quicker? Could either of them really put a kosher chicken in every pot?

In John 2:23-25, John wrote, "Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man."

I am not saying that we shouldn't vote for the person that we think will lead the country the best, but I am saying that with all the power a president has, none of them are more than ordinary men. They have ordinary problems and have to put their pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us that wear pants!

And as much as we want them to be like us, we must remember what we are like: spirits trapped inside sinful flesh, prone to wander from the God we love. We all know when somebody else messes up big - Jim and Tami Faye, Oral Roberts, Bill Clinton. But we want our leaders to be better than us. We want them to be bold and courageous leaders, always making miraculously perfect decisions, but each time one gets elected, all we get are people just like us.

The Israelites wanted a king and they got someone that looked good! Saul was head and shoulders above the rest, so humble he hid from the crowd at his inauguration, and good looking! But he was hasty, making rash vows, and cared more about looking like a take-charge leader than about obeying the Lord.

We must not forget that regardless of the leadership of a country, God will not be hindered from doing His work. In John 19:11, Jesus even rebutted Pontius Pilate saying, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above." It is the same all over the world today. All presidents, dictators, and leaders, no matter what they think , believe, or say, are under the total dominion of the King of kings. The leaders of the world are akin to many children playing king of the hill on many little hills all on a vast piece of property that belongs to the real King.

So whether we end up with a democrat or a republican in the oval office, let's remember to trust the God who allowed them to get there, and to pray for them.