If you are at all familiar with American politics, and likely even if you aren’t, you know that America just had its midterm elections. I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a political junkie, and the midterms are kind of like Thanksgiving for political junkies. It’s not quite Christmas, but it’s the next best thing. All of that to say, I had been following things closely but I didn’t see the magnitude of what was coming.

If you know anything about the recent elections, they did not go well for the political party currently in power, the Republicans. In fact, the Democratic “blue wave” that some had predicted became a blue tsunami, with reliably Republican strongholds like South Carolina and Texas electing Democrat senators. Many Christians find themselves discouraged by this turn of events, as the Democrat party has been increasingly pushing antisemitism, socialism, transgenderism, and abortion. This is not to say the Republican party is a bunch of saints; they’re not. But to see the direction of the country in this election was discouraging.

So what do we do when our preferred political party loses (especially if you’re a political junkie)? What do you do when the world looks like it is shaping up to be opposed to the things that Christians are trying to promote? In fact, we could broaden this beyond American elections, and even beyond democracy itself. Whenever rulers and regimes switch over, there are winners and losers. Sometimes God’s people are on the winning side of those changes and benefit from them one way or another. Sometimes we take it on the chin. How should we respond to these disappointments?

It’s Not the End of the World…

Winning elections and losing elections always feels final, but it rarely is. When your party wins, and wins decisively, the euphoria can sometimes make it feel like utopia is just around the corner. When your party loses, it can feel like we are on the precipice of a cliff or are actively in free fall. Both are normally wrong, especially in a country with a robust democracy.

I think it’s fair to say that, in the case of the most recent American election, this was a rejection of the Republicans more than an embrace of the Democrats. After all, the Democratic party is also underwater in their approval rating. But Americans are clearly quite frustrated with the sitting president, on issues ranging from tariffs, to the Iran war, to corruption, to whatever all this ridiculousness is.

I’ll never forget the video I saw on Twitter of a woman at the Iowa caucuses who had voted for Pete Buttigieg, only to be shocked when she found out that he was gay. “I thought he was a Christian?” She asked if she could change her vote. In other words, most people aren’t voting because they’re really excited about Islam or because they want socialism. The big swing that is happening is a backlash to the craziness on the right, and if the left gets too crazy there will be another backlash. Then we will continue our fun ride back and forth on the swinging pendulum that is politics.

…But It Does Matter

This is not to say that elections don’t matter. I don’t think we should simply say, “Ah, we lost that one. It’s fine, we’ll get the next one.” Elections have real consequences. Simply because those consequences are not as dire as they might be doesn’t mean they aren’t bad. To take abortion as one example, when pro-choice candidates are elected and enact pro-choice policies, people die. You might not see them die, but they die. If political candidates begin promoting bad economic policies, on either side of the aisle, everyday people will have a harder time making ends meet.

The other problem is that lost elections such as we have seen often move the Overton window shifts. The Overton window is the range of opinions that can be held in polite society, and it shifts over time. For example, after the 2024 election it became acceptable to say things like “I don’t think a man can become a woman.” Before that, society as a whole found such a position basically intolerable. Barack Obama once said that marriage was between a man and a woman, such a position now is considered hopelessly backward by quite a few people. Even Republicans have given up trying, the window has shifted. No doubt the result of the midterm elections will result in the Overton window shifting, and things that used to be considered unacceptable will be considered acceptable. Societies rarely make large leaps, as unfortunately ours did with gay marriage. Instead, they shift slowly over time, and losing elections often shift the culture.

So no, it’s not the end of the world. But it’s also not great. Fortunately…

God Will One Day Fix All That Is Wrong…

When we’re disappointed by the results of an election, and when we fear what the future may hold, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That can be a prompt for that inner hunger we should always be cultivating for a better world. Abraham and his sons felt this. Hebrews 11 reminds us of this important truth:

These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13-16

We will be disappointed by every ruler, political system, or party until Jesus comes back. Only He will never disappoint. And when we are disappointed, we should turn ourselves back to the one who will never disappoint. We should remember that we are not home, that home is coming, and we should long for home.

… But There Is Work to Do Now

We should look forward to the Day of the Lord, when Christ comes back and all God’s people are vindicated and all His enemies are destroyed. But that doesn’t take away from the work that needs to be done in the here and now. When Israel was carried away captive to Babylon, it no doubt felt like the end of the world as they knew it. God told them that they were going to be able to return in 70 years. So they were devastated, but they knew they were going home. What should they do in the meantime? God’s answer was to seek the peace of the city:

Pursue the well-being of the city I have deported you to. Pray to the Lord on its behalf, for when it thrives, you will thrive. Jeremiah 29:7

So while we look forward to God coming and fixing everything, we also must keep some of our focus here on earth. God expects us to work for Him while we wait for His return. This is the point of the parable of the talents as told in Luke 19. The king gave his servants resources and told them to “Engage in business until I come back.” (Luke 19:13) And that means…

We Must Remember Why We Are Here…

Politics can become a black hole for some (myself included). But God has not called believers to change the world through politics. God has called us to change the world by preaching the gospel, showing the character of Christ, and living courageous lives of faith. Even when our favorite political party gets clobbered, our mission as believers continues. If the world is more hostile, that doesn’t fundamentally change what we are called to do. We must still pray, read our Bibles, tell people about Jesus, love our families, obey God especially when it’s hard or doesn’t make sense, and serve in the church. This is our purpose on this earth as followers of Jesus, whether our favorite (or perhaps least disliked) politician won or lost.

…But We Must Realize That Politics Is Part of That

Yet once again, this does not mean that politics doesn’t matter at all. Politics, if kept in its appropriate place, can be a part of the work that God has given us to do. Paul encourages Christians to pray for political leaders so that we can lead quiet and peaceable lives (1 Timothy 2:1-4). Proverbs acknowledges that righteousness exalts a people but sin is a reproach (Romans 14:34). Scripture often views and judges civilizations as a whole, and so I think every country should be concerned with how their nation stands before God. This means that we should care what happens to our country, and we should seek to do what we can to influence our country for good. In proper doses and at appropriate times, that can and I believe should involve participation in the political process.

So what is the take away from this slightly meandering post? This election wasn’t good, but it wasn’t the end. We should long for the day when God sets all things right, but we have work to do until then. And our focus should be on what God has given us to do, part of which includes politics. Behind it all we should remember that there is a God who is never surprised, and never concerned. We don’t have to fear if He is still on the throne, and He is.