Party political broadcasts and adverts have been filling our social media feeds, news channels, radio waves and television screens for months, all promising an improved government and a better future.
Politicians set out their stall and ask the voting public to put their trust in them to represent their best interests in government. Manifestos include a fully funded healthcare, affordable housing for all, better state pensions, properly funded public services, filled pot holes, crackdowns on crime, new apprenticeships for the young, free breakfast clubs in schools, and help for first time buyers. The list of promises goes on and on. Promises which, for the most part, we will probably never see fulfilled.
No doubt many politicians get involved in politics with a desire to make a difference to their locality, but far too often what begins as a mandate to represent the people of their constituency morphs into what’s best for their own political party and even what’s best for them.
With the “cash for questions” scandal, MPs expenses, financial irregularities, nepotism, political intrigue and betrayal and the all too frequent exposé and downfall of previously high ranking officials, confidence in politics is at an all-time low.
In times like these, who can we trust to represent our best interests?
The fact is that “the best of men (and women, for that matter) are only men at the best” and ultimately putting all of your hopes in them for the future will likely only lead to disappointment.
The Bible says, “Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation (Psalm 146:3 ESV) and “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (Psalm 118:8).
Again, in the book of Proverbs, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5,6).
Trust in others is often misplaced, trust in ourselves leads us down the wrong path, but trust in God leads to eternal and abundant life.
While the successfully elected representatives will speak for their constituents in government, the book of Romans describes a scene in heaven where Jesus Christ acts as representative and advocate pleading the cause of the Christian before God’s throne,
“It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).
The Christian has a representative fighting their cause and advocating on their behalf not in the Houses of Parliament but in the court of heaven.
The best of human leaders will strive to provide economic prosperity, military security, social justice and competent administration for the benefit of all of their constituents and they will do so with varying degrees of success. Jesus Christ, in contrast, is able to provide everything that we need, not only for the body but also for the soul. He supplies us with everything that we require for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). He is able to provide safety from humanity’s most terrifying enemies, death and the grave, and to make peace with a God offended by our sinfulness (1 Corinthians 15:55; Hebrews 2:17). He will provide justice by punishing the wicked and rewarding those who live by faith in obedience to His truth as taught in the Holy Bible (Revelation 20:13-15), and eventually He will reign righteously as a King forever in a state in which everything will be made new and put right. One day “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away” and He will “make all things new” (Revelation 21:4,5).
Human leaders are limited in their capability, temporary in their term of office, and fallible in their character, but in contrast God’s capability is unlimited, His term of office is eternal, and He is utterly reliable and worthy of ultimate trust.
The various societal woes that politicians endeavour to solve have a deeper, generally unrecognised and unaddressed cause that no policy or spending plan can correct. The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. The reason that there are so many problems in this world is not economics but rather something that the Bible calls sin. According to the Bible, “the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9) and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory [standard] of God” (Romans 3:23). Humanity cannot simply be redirected or reformed; it requires to be entirely remade (or regenerated) through personal confident trust in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches that Christ died for our sins and that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead we will be saved (Romans 10:9). As you consider the problem of a sinful heart and the offer of forgiveness extended towards you, you have a choice to make whether to confess your sin or try to cover it up, whether to believe in Christ or dismiss Him. The choice is yours.
This week millions will choose someone to advocate for their best interests in government, but a much more important choice faces us all. “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days” (Deuteronomy 30:19,20 ESV).
Today choose not who will serve you in parliament but rather who you will serve with your life: “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
