I once worked with a congregation whose members were divided from one another over various issues. It was, more than anything, a power struggle. Both sides knew they were right. Neither side would agree to sit down with the other. One Sunday, an elder volunteered to offer the prayer after the sermon as was their custom. She then prayed that God would make the rest of the congregation come to realize her side was right.
Of course, we all know that elder was wrong. But how often do we pray for others, entreating God to change them so they will agree with us, not necessarily so they will agree with God? I imagine we have all done this on occasion. That is why it is so important to stress Paul’s (or the author’s) words in 1 Timothy 2:1, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone. Paul goes on to support this by saying that God wants all to be saved and that Christ died as a ransom for all. If we, as Christians, truly believe these statements of God’s love and care, the way we pray for others must be transformed from our selfish motives into legitimate love and concern for the other person, whether that person is your granddaughter or Osama Bin Laden.
One of the beautiful ironies of the Christian life is that our prayers often change us more than they change anyone. The great church father John Chrysostom once wrote, “No one can feel hatred towards those for whom he prays.” I would be wrong to think I am supposed to pray that my enemies would come to adopt my point of view. Who says I’m right? I am to pray that they adopt Christ’s point of view. It is with Chrysostom’s words and Paul’s instruction to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions” in mind that I have come to the decision that 1 Timothy 2:1-7 has something to say about how Christians act during the presidential campaign.
Although it may seem hard to believe for some, political parties were not God’s idea; they were our idea. Consequently, there is nothing more holy about being a Republican or a Democrat than there is in preferring Pepsi over Coke. Ultimately, we must remember that God’s Word is God’s Word independent of human institutions and as Jesus says, The wind blows wherever it pleases (John 3:8). One party may be able to claim to be the party of Lincoln, while the other can claim to be the party of FDR. No party, however, can say, “We are the party of Jesus.”
Although we no longer have kings, we certainly have people in high positions in our country, and I would count anyone who could possibly be president someday as someone in a high position. So we must pray for all the candidates, by name preferably. We do well to remember that 1 Timothy was written in a time when those in authority were most certainly not Christians and more than likely viewed Christians as traitors to the empire. The author certainly does not suggest praying for only those leaders with whom we agree.
The reason for these prayers is so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. There is a connection between our prayers for others, especially for those in high positions, and the state of our own lives. If we are people who pray for others, whether we like them or not, our prayer lives will hopefully lead us to live in a state of inward and outward peace, of proper reverence for God, and of respectability and respectfulness. Also, if we pray that the candidates would undertake both their campaigns and their potential offices with wisdom, civility, cooperation, peace, integrity, and godliness then our government just might be run better, people’s rights will be protected, and ultimately you and I, and everyone else, can lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
To truly pray for someone is to declare that person your equal before God, as one created in God’s image. It is to celebrate the fact that God knew them before they were in the womb and they were fearfully and wonderfully made. It is to remember that God wants all to be saved and Christ died for all. It is to strip away the titles of presidential candidate, of Republican, of Democrat, and to lift them up to God as a fellow human being, as a creation of God’s own love and imagination. Then Hillary Clinton becomes my sister and McCain, Obama, Huckabee, Edwards, Giuliani, Romney, et al are all my brothers. And this goes for our current president as well, whether we like him or not. And who knows, maybe these prayers will open our minds so that we can actually listen to what these people have to say instead of simply dismissing them because of what we think we know about them.
My point is not to advocate the abandoning of political parties. I am simply trying to remind all members of political parties that it is they who are the members, not Jesus and not his Church. So over the next months, every now and then, pick up the remote and turn off the news and lift these people up before God’s throne of grace. Remember that before you are a Republican or a Democrat and before you are an American, you are a member of the human race and a disciple of Jesus Christ, who died and rose just as much for Rudy Giuliani as he did for Hillary Clinton as he did for you and me. And then may supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. … “
Everett Miller is pastor of First Church in Newkirk, Okla.
