- Relational Wisdom | Ken Sande | Biblical Emotional Intelligence | Peacemaking | Institute Christian Conciliation | Reconciliation - https://rw360.org -

17 Ways to Respond to Explosive Politics

This coming week, millions of people will be rejoicing or weeping as the 2022 political season comes to its climactic end.

The emotions that are now building to a crescendo will not dissipate quickly or harmlessly. Many family, workplace and church relationships will be further damaged and in some cases destroyed as heated emotions continue to flow like lava from volcano.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that you have a unique opportunity to minister to people whose lives and relationships are being profoundly impacted by these events.

Here are seventeen biblical principles you can model and teach to others in these tumultuous times. These principles apply whether your candidates win or lose. Best of all, they can position you to give a compelling gospel testimony to those who have not yet found peace and security in the greatest Ruler of all times, our Lord Jesus Christ.

How to Win Graciously

If your candidate prevails, this will be an ideal time to practice the Golden Rule, that is, to treat others as you would want to be treated if your candidate had lost (Matt. 7:12). In other words …

Be humble. Don’t act like this was your personal accomplishment, for it is God who raises up leaders and deposes them (Dan. 2:20-21). As the checkered history of Israel’s kings reveals, God raises up good leaders to bless people and poor leaders to chastise them. Let us recognize that God is the ultimate mover in these events, and pray that our newly elected officials will prove to be the former kind of leader rather than the latter.

Be sensitive. Don’t celebrate your victory in the presence of those who are grieving. Quietly rejoice with those who share your views but be silent or subdued when talking with those who differ. It would be unkind and unloving to compound their sadness and grief.

Be compassionate. Rather than simply holding your tongue, ask God to give you genuine empathy and compassion for those who see the election as a personal and national catastrophe. Rather than dismissing their feelings out of hand, make a real effort to imagine how they are feeling … and then let that compassion move you engage them with gentleness and kindness (Col. 3:12-14; see Seven Steps to Empathy [1]).

Be honest. Like every other person who has occupied a political office, our new leaders will have both strengths and weaknesses in both their competence and their character. Be honest about these facts and let them move you to reasonable conversation and constant prayer.

Be patient. Allow people time to grieve, to lament and to vent their disappointments, anger and fears. Don’t try to lecture or debate with them while their emotions are stirred up. Give them time—it may take months—to process those feelings and see what develops during the months ahead (see Spanglish [2] for a superb example of such patience and wisdom).

Be discerning. If others lash out at you, remember that they are probably acting out of fear, not malice. Fear typically reveals itself in one of three ways: control, anger or withdrawal (see The Three Faces of Fear [3]). Therefore, even if someone seems to be personally angry at you or rejecting you, choose to not take it personally and to do all you can to leave the door open between you … even if they are trying to slam it shut.

Find Agreement. If others seek to take their fears out on you, try to re-direct the conversation to neutral topics (weather, food, etc.). If they press you on political issues, draw them out with sincere and thoughtful questions (so that you really understand them), and then focus on areas of shared concern. “I agree with you that our nation needs to do a better job of ____. What are some of the ways you think we could work togethre to do that?”

Bless those who curse you. If others are harsh, unloving or unjust toward you, do not respond in kind. Instead, remember Jesus’ command to “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).

Above all, share the gospel. The responses described above will not be typical of many people who are unhappy with election outcomes. When others notice that you are responding in a remarkably different way to these events, you may have many opportunities to share the hope provided by the gospel and to describe how your character has been transformed since you put your trust in Christ. As 1 Pet. 3:15-16 teaches:

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

How to Lose Graciously

If your candidate does not prevail, this will be an ideal time for you too to practice the Golden Rule, that is, to behave in exactly the way you’d want others to behave if their candidate had lost (Matt. 7:12). In other words …

Trust God. Remember that God’s thoughts are higher than your thoughts and his ways are higher than your ways (Isa. 55:9). If he raises someone to power who you think is unqualified for the office, trust that God knows what he is doing (Dan. 2:20-21; Prov. 3:5-7). It could be that he intends to discipline us through poor leaders, or he may be planning to bless us in surprising ways through leaders who eventually exceed our expectations.

Choose your attitude. Viktor Frankl survived the horrors of Auschwitz but lost his entire family in the concentration camp. In spite of all  the abuse and oppression he experienced, he had the wisdom to write, “The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitude.” This principle of human freedom and responsibility is just as true today (see these examples [4]). Whatever disappointments you experience in life, you still have the freedom to choose an attitude that enables you to move ahead hopefully and constructively.

Talk it out without taking it out. Instead of venting your emotions at people who might feel personally attacked, talk out your initial feelings with people who share your concerns … but who also have the maturity and wisdom to know when it’s time to move from sharing emotions to praying and discussing constructive responses.

Resist emotional hijacking. Intense emotions can overpower rational thinking and cause us to say and do things that we ultimately regret, a process that is often referred to as “amygdala hijacking.” To avoid damaging valuable relationships (and making yourself look foolish), practice the READ principle: Recognize and name your emotions, Evaluate their source, Anticipate the consequences of following them, and Direct them in a constructive course (for a detailed plan on how to master strong emotions, see Four Ways to Defeat Hijacking [5]).

Take your fears to God. As mentioned above, fear typically reveals itself in one of three ways: control, anger or withdrawal (see The Three Faces of Fear [3]). If you sense any of these tendencies in yourself, prayerful look behind them to identify the fears that are fueling them. Then take those fears to God in prayer, trusting that he will make good on his covenant promises: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isa. 41:10).

Unplug. Social media can be like wood to a fire (Prov. 26:20). Every time you read another distressing Tweet, Instagram, Facebook comment or news report, you’ll keep your fears and anxieties burning. So give yourself a vacation. Turn off your feeds, silence your accounts and decompress for a few days. When you check back in a week or two, you’ll be amazed how much more objectively you can think about recent events.

Consecrate your concerns to God. When the Apostle Paul was chained in prison for his faith, he realized he had two choices. He could either curse those chains by complaining and doubting God’s goodness, or he could consecrate those chains to God. To consecrate something means to declare it sacred, to devote it irrevocably to the worship and service of God. Paul chose to consecrate his chains to Christ. Trusting that God was always working for his good (Phil. 1:18-21), Paul could sincerely pray, “This is your situation, my Lord. Show me how I can respond to it in a way that pleases and honors you.” You can imitate Paul by doing the same thing with your concerns about our country’s political situation (see Curse or Consecrate [6]).

Channel your concerns into constructive action. Our country was founded on the shared vision that all people are created equal and endowed by God with the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” We’ve made great progress toward achieving that vision over the past two hundred years, but there is much left to do. Identify the areas that God seems to be calling you to address, and then do all you can to promote needed repentance and improvement (Isa. 1:17; Eccl. 9:10).

Share the gospel. The responses described above will not be typical of many people who are unhappy with election outcomes. When others notice that you are responding in a remarkably different way to these events, you may have many opportunities to share the hope provided by the gospel and to describe how your character has been transformed since you put your trust in Christ. As 1 Pet. 3:15-16 teaches:

In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Pray, Pray and Pray!

Our country faces divisions and challenges that have been aggravated by months of political rhetoric that has been repeated and magnified by both sides. Therefore, this is a time to obey God’s command to pray earnestly for all of the people in our nation, especially for those who are in positions of political responsibility (1 Tim. 2:1-2; Jer. 29:7).

Among other things, we should pray for repentance from sin, for humility and deliverance from pride, for genuine compassion for the disadvantaged, for true and uniform justice, for a reverent fear of God that moves people to obey his commands, and most of all, for the gospel to go forth with power.

In addition, we can pray for God to give all of our leaders the humility and wisdom that enabled Abraham Lincoln to guide our country through a dreadful civil war (see Lincoln’s Relational Wisdom [7]) and enabled Ronald Reagan to lead us out of the Cold War, which threatened to annihilate human civilization (see Reagan, Lincoln, RW and You [8]).

We desperately need such leadership today, so let us pray earnestly for God’s continued patience, mercy and grace as we seek to repent from our sins, learn from our mistakes and turn these distressing political events into an opportunity for mutual, God-honoring ministry.

If you think these principles would be of value to your family, friends, coworkers and church, please feel free to share this post as widely as possible over the next two days!

– Ken Sande

If you’d like to learn how to apply these kinds of relational skills in all areas of your life, I encourage you to take advantage of our online course, Discovering Relational Wisdom 3.0 [9], which you can pursue individually or with a group of friends who share your desire to respond to the challenges of life in a way that honors God (see our DRW 3.0 Group Study Set [10]).

Reflection Questions

  • If you feel like a winner after the recent election, try to put yourself in the shoes of those who feel like they lost. What emotions are they probably feeling? What events have contributed to those emotions?
  • Which of the recommended steps above would be most helpful for you to take?
  • If you feel like a loser after the recent election, what might you do today that you would regret six months from now? Where are you tempted to forget or doubt God? What good might God be planning to bring from these events?
  • Which of the recommended steps above would be most helpful for you to take?

Permission to distribute: Please feel free to download, print, or electronically share this message in its entirety for non-commercial purposes with as many people as you like.

© 2022 Ken Sande

Would you like to receive future posts like this? Subscribe now! [11]

Share this post
[12] [13] [14] [15]