Elections and Happiness

            There was an election earlier this week.  You may have heard something about it.

            Some reading this are happy with the election results, because their candidates won.  Others reading this are unhappy, because their candidates lost.  That’s natural.  We all have opinions and beliefs, and we support candidates who we think most closely match our opinions and beliefs.  We naturally want those candidates to win.  We’re happy when they do, and we’re unhappy when they don’t.

            That’s fine, in the short term.  In the long term, though, it’s a mistake to allow our happiness to be determined by who wins elections.  This is true for at least three reasons.

            The most obvious one is that we’re setting ourselves up for unhappiness.  No one has their candidates win all the time.  If our happiness is determined by who wins elections, we’re going to be unhappy a significant portion of the time.  That’s not good.

            Another reason is that, if we allow our happiness to be determined by who wins elections, we’re giving control of our happiness to other people.  Very few of us have the ability to have much impact on who wins an election, especially a national election.  Thus, we’re ceding control of our happiness to others, rather than being responsible for it ourselves.  That’s not good, either.

            Maybe the most important reason, though, is that no election, and no winner of an election, is going to solve all of our problems.  That’s true no matter who wins.  It’s been said that the only problems that can be solved by money are money problems.  In a similar vein, the only problems that can be solved by politicians are political problems.  If we put our faith in a politician to make us happy, we’re ultimately going to be disappointed, no matter who that politician is and no matter what that politician does or does not do.

           

Political problems are important, and I’m not trying to minimize them.  But most of us have problems that go far beyond the political realm.  We have health problems. We have relationship problems.  We have spiritual problems.  Sometimes we feel lonely or depressed or scared.  These are not problems that can be solved by politics and politicians.  These are problems that can only be solved by reaching out to others and by reaching out to God.

           

When Jesus was on earth, he was often invited to comment on the political situation of his day.  He always refused.  I think he did that not because he thought political issues were unimportant, but because these issues were not the focus of his ministry.  Jesus told us the two most important commandments are to love God and love each other.  We don’t need politicians or governments to do those things.  Those are things we can do ourselves.

           

It’s fine to be pleased or displeased with the outcome of the election.  Remember, though, that our salvation is not to be found in Washington, nor is it to be found in a state capitol or any seat of government.  Salvation can only come by God’s grace through our faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.