Anyone who is President or runs for President tends to do three things:
- Kiss babies.
- Claim to know Econ. And…
- Talk about God.
As the 16th entry into the diverse 2016 GOP presidential field, Ohio Gov. John Kasich concluded his announcement on Tuesday with the following:
“As for me, I’m just a flawed man, a flawed man, trying to honor God’s blessings in my life. I don’t even understand it. He’s been very good to me. And I want you to know that I will do my very best to serve you, because you are in my mind’s eye… God bless you and God bless America.”
Ah, yes, to appeal to the masses, we like to invoke the name of God; it sounds good. But when is such a reflection of what we really believe — and when is it merely a strategic manifestation of — shall we say — lip-service?
Even in our seemingly all-things-go society, non-belief is still politically unpopular. I speak not of atheism or agnosticism — those who claim God doesn’t exist or simply say they do not know him. According to the Barna Group, 75% of us believe in God; 92% say Jesus Christ was a real person who actually lived; and 62% of us have made a commitment to Jesus that we say is still important to us today.
But my sense is that belief means something more. Belief cannot be qualified as lip service. Belief changes us. And belief radically changes how we behave.
Belief in an omniscient, omnipotent, amazing grace-giving, compassionate God means we learn to love our brother and sister well. It means to look out especially for the poor, sick, elderly, and orphan. It means that all lives matter.
Belief in this great big God of the universe means we trust more in him than in ourselves. That means I allow my prayer and my pause to direct my heart, mind, soul, and strength. That means I am submissive to someone other than myself.
Belief in God means that I recognize that I don’t have life all figured out… that I don’t know all there is; and I can’t. My experience doesn’t equate itself with exhaustive truth. I recognize there must be someone greater and wiser than me.
Time and time again, I find myself struck by those who share their belief in God, but then seemingly, in the same breath, turn around to chastise another… to only love one person or people group well… or to arrogantly proclaim only they or their tight knit people group has been solely, divinely enlightened. So many times I have been struck by the lack of humility claimed by those who say they believe.
Allow me one more notably, transparent sentence: so many times I have been struck by my own lack of humility.
To say we believe means we are changed. It means our trust comes from God, our empowerment comes from God, and thus our peace and confidence comes from him. That person will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots, but doesn’t fear when the tough weather comes. The worry is less. The need to control is less. The need to only love some people is less. The need to trump one people group over another is less. The need to proclaim one’s own enlightenment is less. The need for arrogance is less. God is more; we are essentially… “less.”
Make no mistake about it; believing isn’t always easy. It takes faith. It is peace giving and confidence building, but it takes investment on our parts. It takes time. It takes pause.
So many proclaim their belief, but we should also be able to see their belief in how they behave.
It’s too easy to simply kiss all the babies.
Respectfully…
AR