“…his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” – Daniel 7:14
I’m writing this devotional well before Election Day, knowing that this will get posted on the morning after the big day. I don’t know what the collective feeling will be this morning. Is it going to be relief or sadness or confusion? If I were a betting man, I’d probably put my money on the latter, however, one thing we know. Eventually, there will be a winner and a loser. There will be a party who wins and a party who loses. There will be voters who feel like their team won and voters who feel like their team lost.
With that in mind, I want to suggest something that might sound strange or maybe just a little bit crazy. I want to suggest that it might actually be better for you if your side loses. In fact, to be honest, there’s a part of me that sorta wants you to lose. Now, before you write me off as being partisan, remember that I have no idea how you voted yesterday. I realize that there are people reading this who voted on all sides of every issue and party. That is one of the beautiful things about the church. It is a place where different and differing people can come together as one. Not because we all of a sudden start looking the same and thinking the same, but because we all share the same allegiance to Jesus. And it is precisely because of that allegiance that I can say that it might be better for you and better for me if we lose in this election.
You see, for those of us who feel like winners when this is all said and done, might be tempted to put our hope in our party or our candidate. We might be tempted to think that this person is going to be the fix for what’s wrong with our world. Can I tell you plainly? He is not. Neither of these guys are. There is only one fix for our world and that is Jesus. This is why in the upside down sounding logic of the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus would say, “my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). Weakness. Or “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25). You see, there’s a losing that is at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. In fact, what I want you to remember today is that there is a winning in losing. The win is that Jesus is our only hope. Every other kingdom will fail. Jesus’ “shall not be destroyed.” Let’s make Him our hope today.
Pastor Josh Rose
Teaching Pastor