Not in It to Win It: Why Choosing Sides Sidelines The Church

by Andy Stanley

The moment our love or concern for country takes precedence over our love for the people in our country, we are off mission.

Are you more concerned about your kid’s political views or their faith?

These fine men and women were guilty of meeting together on a fixed day before dawn, singing a hymn to Christ, and committing to honesty, generosity, fidelity, and loyalty to one another and anyone else who needed a favor.

Jesus prayed for oneness because he believed it was possible. He prayed for oneness because it’s essential. It doesn’t come naturally. We will have to fight for it. Forgive for it. Serve for it. Lose for it. But remember, it was Christianity—not the Republican Party or the Democratic Party—that shaped Western civilization. It was the teaching of Jesus—not our political parties—that laid the groundwork for our modern sense of justice, fairness, and dignity of the individual.

If we want to know what God is like, if we want the world to know what God is like, if we want our children and grandchildren to know what God is like, let’s not introduce them to a shadow. Let’s introduce them to Jesus. The reality.

Carrying someone’s burdens is how you love someone with a burden. Why should we care? Why should we carry? Because Christ carried our burden. This is what doers do and how followers follow.

To the point of this book, for Jesus followers, there is no place for rage, brawling, slander, or any form of malice at any time, for any reason. There’s no such thing as righteous slander. Or holy brawling. Those are the means and methods of the kingdoms of this world. Jesus didn’t use ’em. Paul abandoned them. We should follow their example.

We can debate what it looks like to love other people the way Christ loves us. But we don’t get to decide whether to love others the way God through Christ loved us. That’s decided for us. It’s been modeled for us. It’s been prescribed to us.