Turn not right or left: A red wave won't save America

November's election results are meaningless, absent a 'red wave of the heart'

“Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and servicing them.” — Deuteronomy 28:14

Just wait ‘til Nov. 8. Wait ‘til America gets to vote again, and sweeps in a red wave to Congress, and turns President Joe Biden into a lame duck.

There are people who fully believe the paragraph above, and have spent years of their lives waiting for that day.

Nov. 8, 2022. The day their team wins and they can say “I told you so.”

I’d caution against this. And long before left and right took on a political meaning, Moses cautioned against it.

Turning left and right, for his purposes, meant turning away from God’s path. Today, Moses would warn that we’ve turned left and right, blue and red, Democrat and Republican, into idols.

We judge our would-be leaders by the color of their ties, rather than the content of their character.

We don’t view our country as citizens, or even as people, and ask what it should provide citizens, or people. Instead, we ask how events will affect the blue team and red team. We pounce, or we play defense. We don’t stand up and speak our minds. We wait for talking points to arrive in our inboxes.

“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” — Deuteronomy 10:16

Partisanship has turned your worldview upside down. You cry foul when the other team throws around power, then you crow when your team has it. Told you so!

If you’re a conservative, look around at your liberal friends. Just four years ago, the blue wave was epic. Two years later, they won the presidency.

And they’re absolutely miserable.

I’d ask “What has blue done for you?” but their faces say it all.

Nothing is ever enough. Progress demands they keep lurching forward from The Current Thing to The Next Thing, whether people want it or not.

If you beat them in November, don’t join them. Theirs is the emptiness of people who’ve mistaken politics for what matters in life. They got off the path, turned left, and have grown lazy from eating low-hanging fruit.

Straying right carries those same dangers.

No politician, or assemblage thereof, will save America. Ask not what they can do for you. Ask how you can get involved personally. Citizenship is stewardship.

A red wave in November is meaningless, absent a “red wave of the heart” to go along with it.