Why do we allow our partisan politics to control and determine the Gospel?

Since when did politics get to determine what was considered Gospel?

Why do we place politics in the primary place of our lives – to the point that the Gospel has to fit into our political ideologies?

Why do we allow the Gospel to be characterized in political terms – as if politics is the foundation of life?

The Gospel isn’t a Republican or Democrat message.  It’s not a conservative and liberal talking point.  The political powers of Jesus time had him killed because he wouldn’t fall in line.  Because he wouldn’t advance the party narrative and power structures of the day.

If the Gospel doesn’t make our politics uncomfortable, then we aren’t proclaiming the Gospel.

When our politics makes proclaiming the Gospel uncomfortable then we have our priorities backwards.

Politics is not the foundation of life.  Politics in our current setting is an either/or adventure that narrows things down to only two options – two really bad options.  Why would you choose from really bad options that are anything but life-giving?

The Gospel though is different.  The Gospel makes demands on our life – our entire lives.  Not just on a Sunday morning for an hour.  Our entire life is to be centered in the Gospel. The Gospel impacts and changes our lives.  If it doesn’t change us, then there is something wrong with us – we’re not all in.  We’re putting up barriers to it – probably because the Gospel is uncomfortable and inconvenient.  It conflicts with our politics and ideology.  It conflicts with our preferences and beliefs.  It gets in our face and tells us that there is a different way – a way that is different from the either/or mentality that our culture offers us.

The Gospel is something that changes our lives – and lays claim to our lives.  It’s not just something to hear and go on with life.  It is life itself.