I am writing this blog on Sunday night (the 3rd of Nov.) before the aftermath of the elections.  I am writing to warn men who read this blog to have godly restraint in the days to come.  The enemy has stirred up anger and hatred to a fever pitch in the media.  Men need to refrain from falling into this ugly stew.  We have a wonderful opportunity to show those around us who we really are –  Overcomers.  “This is the victory that has overcome the world, ever our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God” (I John 5:4-5).  

In our weekly bible study in our apartment building, believers gather from  different church backgrounds.  I consistently tell them that we will not talk politics, leading us into  rabbit holes with no hope of finding light.  I have said repeatedly that our focus is three fold.  First, the guidance of God’s eternal word; second, the Lordship of Jesus in all our affairs; and three, the kingdom reign of Jesus.  We pray often, “may our kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  On these three issues we have a firm standing.  Men, may you be on solid ground.  We will be able to withstand the coming storm with a focus on these three principles.

We don’t know the future, but we have absolute confidence that in Jesus we are overcomers.  Paul give us encouragement. “We don’t yet see things clearly.  We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.  But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the  sun shines bright!  We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!” (I Cor 13:12 Message) Then Paul reminds us of love showing the way.  “But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.  And the best of the three is love” (I Cor 13:13 Message).

Earlier in Chapter 13 of I Corinthians, Paul give a picture of  a loving person.   Men, ask God to be merciful and gracious to you, giving you the courage  to be a loving man in the days to come, a man who has overcome in Jesus.  You don’t know the outcome of the elections for our nation, but you are reigning with Jesus.  All thing will  work for the good of God’s reign in our affairs.  

Paul says the love that God puts in our hearts will have the following result in our attitude.  “This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience – it looks for a way of being constructive.  It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance…..It does not keep account of evil or goat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it shares the joy of those who live by the truth.  Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything.  Love never fails. (I Cor 13: 4 &6-8).

Men, in the days to come, know that His love in you will help you weather the storm that is coming.  Paul prayed, “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully (Eph. 2:18b -19 NLT).