it is not a political goal

Some accuse believers of being “Christian nationalists” simply for praying in public or affirming biblical truth. Others weaponize traditional values as if morality alone could redeem a nation. In both cases, the gospel is distorted. Christianity is not about identity politics, it’s about identity in Christ. It is not a tribal badge or cultural campaign. It is a call to die to self and walk with the living God.

Consider two men from Scripture: Judas Iscariot and the prophet Habakkuk. Both saw the brokenness of Israel. Both longed for change. Both hoped God would bring justice. But their responses diverged in one critical way: one surrendered to God’s plan, the other tried to force his own. During the time of judas Jewish people were under Roman occupation, suffering taxation, military control, and the constant humiliation of being ruled by pagan outsiders. Many Jews believed the Messiah would come as a military deliverer would conquer Rome and restore the kingdom to Israel. If Judas, like many others, believed Jesus was the Messiah come to lead a revolution, it’s possible he grew increasingly frustrated as Jesus spoke not of rebellion but of repentance. Jesus healed Gentiles, paid taxes to Caesar, taught love of enemies, and rebuked even His own disciples when they reached for swords. He consistently refused to play the part of the militant savior.And this is where Judas’s fatal decision may have taken shape. Some theologians and historians suggest that Judas’s betrayal wasn’t initially about money, after all, thirty pieces of silver was a paltry sum, but about provocation. That is, Judas may have thought: “If I hand Him over, surely He will finally reveal His power. He’ll call down angels, rally the people, and begin the revolution. He just needs the right push.” He misunderstood the very heart of Christ’s kingdom, thinking he could manipulate the Son of God into fulfilling his own script.And when Jesus was arrested, didn’t resist, and was sentenced to die, Judas was devastated. tried to return the money, and ultimately took his own life. His plan had failed, He died with his plans because he was not willing to see the will of God. Now contrast this with the prophet Habakkuk, who also lived in a time of national crisis. He saw the injustice in Israel, cried out to God, and was told that judgment was coming from the Babylonians. Like Judas, Habakkuk didn’t understand God’s plan. But instead of trying to manipulate the outcome, he waited, trusted, and worshiped. (see article:It is finished (HABAKKUK)) “Though the fig tree does not blossom… yet I will rejoice in the Lord” (Hab. 3:17–18). Habakkuk understood what Judas didn’t: God’s justice is real, but it is not ours to wield. Vengeance belongs to the Lord. Our task is to walk humbly, trust deeply, and worship truly, even when the world seems broken.

Many in today’s Christian world fall into the same trap as Judas: we see the corruption, we want revolution.  We confuse spiritual renewal with political victory. We seek a kingdom of this world instead of the one Christ proclaimed.

The cross was not a political weapon. It was a place of surrender. Jesus didn’t come to fix Rome, He came to fix hearts. And Judas missed that. He was so focused on the system that he forgot his own sin. That’s the danger: When we aim to cleanse society without confessing our own hearts, we repeat his mistake. God doesn’t want soldiers for a culture war. He wants disciples who walk with Him, no matter how slow the revolution seems. Because the greatest change isn’t societal. It’s personal. And it begins with kneeling before the cross, not seizing the sword. 

 Order is better than chaos. Moral structure is better than moral confusion. But there’s a subtle danger here, and it’s not political, it’s spiritual. Some who advocate for a return to tradition are not wrong in what they affirm, but they are wrong in where they place their hope. They seek a mass solution to a spiritual problem. They rally for a better system while ignoring the sickness in the soul. They long to clean up the culture but forget that they, too, are dust and ash. They name the evil “out there” but refuse to see the evil “in here.”  Yes, evil is real. And yes, it must be named. There are perversions of truth and beauty and justice that should grieve every Christian heart. But many often focus on what’s evil because we don’t want to confess that we are evil. It’s easier to be angry at the world than repentant before God and for some it is easier to be judged by the world than repentant before God, until we stop pretending that the solution is merely political or cultural, we’ll never experience the renewal that Christ actually offers. The gospel is not about making society moral again. It’s about making sinners alive again. Jesus isn’t looking for clever critics. He’s looking for those who will follow Him. Humbly. Wholeheartedly. Without seeking applause from either side. 

There is a real danger, the left hand wants to burn the truth down, and the right hand wants to wield it like a club. But both miss the heart of the gospel. God does not want your system. He wants your heart. We will never fix the world. We will never elect enough leaders, write enough laws, or win enough debates to build the Kingdom of God. Because the Kingdom is not built by votes or ideologies. So yes, stand for what’s right. But don’t forget to kneel. Yes, call evil evil. But begin by confessing your own. Yes, speak truth. But speak it with a  voice that knows how much grace you’ve been given.

The point I’m making isn’t about ignoring the world or excusing evil. Quite the opposite. I want even the most mundane parts of life to be lived in the presence of God. That means the focus isn’t just on dramatic cultural battles or outward revolutions, it’s about the ordinary obedience of walking with Christ in daily repentance. Brother Lawrence, a humble 17th-century monk, captured this beautifully in his little book The Practice of the Presence of God. He worked in a monastery kitchen, doing what many would consider lowly, unimportant labor. Yet he wrote of how washing dishes or sweeping the floor could be acts of worship when done with a heart fixed on God. His life was a reminder that God doesn’t just meet us in moments of public action or political engagement He meets us in the quiet, repetitive, and unseen tasks when they are offered in love. The same heartbeat inspired the Christopher Movement in the 1940s. Founded by Father James Keller, it taught that every person could be a “Christ-bearer” in their ordinary spheres of life. The Christophers’ motto was: “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” That vision was never about seizing political power but about faithful witness showing Christ through presence, action, and service in the everyday. Even in Scripture, God demonstrates this principle. Gideon was from “the weakest clan in Manasseh,” and he described himself as “the least of his family” By human measure, he was insignificant. Yet God chose him to deliver Israel from the Midianites. And God deliberately reduced Gideon’s army from 32,000 men to only 300. Why? To show Israel that the victory would not come from human power, political strength, or emotional fervor, but from divine grace alone. The battle was real, but it was fought and won on God’s terms. That’s why my focus isn’t on rallying people to be “fired up” about the latest event. Outrage, fear, or even pride can’t be our fuel. Those are emotions and when we worship feelings, we stop worshiping Christ. We know we must resist sinful emotions. whether it’s lust or outrage, if our action is driven by emotion rather than anchored in Christ, then feelings have become our god. That means we’re worshiping how we feel about something instead of submitting to who God is. Our zeal shouldn’t rise and fall with the culture’s news cycle, but remain steady because Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The truth is, the spiritual fight never changes. God has not shifted. His Word has not shifted. His call to repentance has not shifted. The finished work of Christ is steady, even while culture and politics rise and fall around us. That’s why we can’t treat sudden events like the signal that now is the time for revolution, as if the battle just started. The call to die to ourselves and live in Christ is always now! I know my own weaknesses. I’m not the best example of patience or holiness; I can be grumpy, irritable, distracted and all other sorts of adjectives. I should be focused on the plank in my own eye. and it frustrates me. I don’t need more fuel for outrage! So when people try to fire me up with outrage about politics or the culture, it just feeds anger. And that anger takes hold then I have to fight hard not to let the sun go down on it. Outrage grips the heart, it takes root, and then it distracts from worship. What I really need is to be spiritually nurtured in Christ’s presence. When I go to Bible study, I want to be built up in holiness and repentance, not just told it’s “time for war” because of whatever is happening in the world. That’s not discipleship, that’s distraction. The truth is, the world has always been burning in one way or another since the very beginning. There has always been war, corruption, injustice, and sin. If I anchor myself in those cycles, I’ll never find rest. But if I anchor myself in eternity, then the storms of this world can come and go, and I’ll remain standing in Christ. Don’t let every headline or cultural shift dictate your spiritual fire. Bring outrage, grief, and even confusion to God instead of letting them harden your heart. Even the Pharisees taught God’s law. They weren’t preaching a made up pagan law, And yet Jesus still condemned them, not because the law itself was wrong, but because their hearts were corrupt. They honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from Him. That shows me the problem isn’t only “bad culture” or “bad politics.” The deeper issue is us. Outward systems, even religious ones, are powerless without repentance. our highest calling is not to warn our brother of bodily death, but of spiritual death. Jesus Himself said: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” Political turmoil, cultural decline, even persecution these can take our earthly life, but not our eternal life. Sin, however, destroys both. So our priority should be to encourage one another toward holiness, to “exhort one another every day…that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). Warning someone about the latest political danger may stir fear or anger for a moment, but pointing them away from sin leads to life. The church’s task is not to make people cling more tightly to their rights or safety, but to Christ Himself. There is such a thing as righteous anger. Jesus Himself displayed it when He cleansed the temple (John 2:13–17). Scripture tells us, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph. 4:26). Anger at evil and injustice can move us toward godly action to protect the vulnerable, to speak truth, to pray with urgency. But even then, we must remember that vengeance belongs to the Lord alone (Rom. 12:19). The line between righteous anger and sinful anger is thin, and if we are not anchored in Christ, it quickly becomes corrupted. Christ, hanging on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”That is not weakness, but the very power of God for it is forgiveness, not fury, that breaks the cycle of sin. Think of Paul. He called himself the “chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), a persecutor of the church. If the early Christians had refused to forgive him, the greatest missionary of the gospel would have been shut out. That kind of forgiveness looks radical to the world, but it is exactly the heart of Christ. So yes, there is a place for righteous anger, but it must always lead us back to God’s justice, not our own vengeance. In the end, every victory is His doing. Deus vult ! God wills it. Not my rage, not my strength, not my schemes, but His grace. That is where our warfare rests and our renewal begins.

Thank you,

𝕭𝖊𝖓 𝕬𝖓𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖓𝖞 𝕾𝖎𝖒𝖔𝖓

( Disclaimer of edit!!! : I want to note that I have edited this piece. Looking back, I believe that to make strong claims about Judas is very speculative and without solid biblical basis. Upon further investigation, many biblical scholars share this caution at the end of the day, such ideas amount to educated guesswork rather than certainty. A clearer and more grounded example may be found in figures like Jonah and Habakkuk, whose struggles with God’s will are openly recorded in Scripture.)