Fleeting is the sovereignty/of the wretched world in which we are;/the King who rules over the angels/is the Lord of every land.

  - Oengus mac Oengobann, Feilire Oengusso (Irish, 9th century)

The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

  - Proverbs 21.1

The political season begins in earnest tomorrow. The Iowa caucuses mark the official start of the presidential campaign season, and, frankly, I'm already pretty tired of it all.

Much is at stake this time around, that seems clear. Whether the country will continue on its present course of becoming an entitlement state, populated largely by serfs and landowners, or whether we will begin to find our way back to the independent republic our Founders envisioned - this question may not be finally determined by the outcome of November's elections, but they will contribute to one direction or the other.

Christians need to approach this election from a Kingdom perspective. Our calling is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6.33). This means that we will want to discover which candidate's views are most conducive to the increase of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit, which is the Kingdom of God (Rom. 14.17, 18).

That will take some serious study and constant monitoring on our parts. Granted, any Administration only has, at most, eight years to accomplish its agenda. It is a fleeting sovereignty, and not even that, really, since so many checks and balances exist to keep parties and presidents at least somewhat restrained.

But do we even know what the Kingdom questions are? Do we know how to frame them, and how to determine which candidates best represent an agenda that turns nicely in the Lord's hands?

If we haven't begun looking into such matters yet, now's the time to get busy.

Believers must seek the Kingdom in their political choices. Contrary to what many think today, everything in this country is not politics; rather, everything is spiritual warfare. You can't win a spiritual war in the voting booth. At the same time, politics can be helpful to provide a battlefield and staging-ground for fighting the good fight of faith.

So let's look to the Lord, study diligently, listen carefully, and engage the political process with a view to advancing the Kingdom agenda of our sovereign King. Politics won't get us all the way to the Kingdom of God. However, we won't get very far along the way there unless we participate wisely and winsomely in this and every other political season.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.