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Don't place your hopes or fears in the outcome of the election
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton speak during the second presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Don't place your hopes or fears in the outcome of the election

America has cracks in its foundation, and just putting a new president in the White House won't fix our problems. We need to return to the Judeo-Christian principles that were part of the founding of our country.

By Tony Evans, for TheBlaze

This presidential election seems to be tearing our country apart, inciting deeply held passions and fears, and splitting political parties, families and friendships.

Some voters strongly support one of the major presidential candidates. Others feel confused, overwhelmed and disappointed about the choice they face.

Many of our citizens feel anxious about the future. All around them, they see the devolution of a nation. Whether it’s politics, entertainment, morality, crime or the family, every area of our culture seems to be in decline. The election, they hope, will reverse our downward spiral.

But their hopes and fears are misplaced. Instead of worrying about the outcome of the presidential election, they should be concerned about our shift away from the Judeo-Christian principles that formed the foundation of our nation. The further we move away from them, the more chaotic things become.

My wife, Lois, and I have lived in the same house in Dallas for more than 35 years. It is a modest home in an older neighborhood. We like it; it is comfortable. But if you know anything about Texas, you know that due to the extreme heat and often-relentless bursts of rain, the ground can shift. This is never good for a house.

Many years ago, I noticed some fissures in one of the inside walls. So I called in a painter to patch them up with plas­ter and repaint the wall. After he had finished, everything looked as good as new.

But about a month later, the same cracks began to reappear, except they were worse. Assuming the last painter had done a poor job, I called another one. After he arrived and looked at the cracks in my wall, he said, “I can’t help you.”

“Why can’t you help me?” I replied, confused.

He could see the frustration on my face, so he contin­ued, “Tony, the cracks are not your problem. Your problem is that you have a shifting foundation. Your foundation is faulty. The cracks on your wall just reflect that deeper problem.”

“I’m listening. Go on,” I replied, interested to get to the bottom of this.

“If you don’t fix your foundation, you will forever be performing patchwork on your walls. You don’t need a painter first. You need someone to work on your founda­tion. When that is done, I’ll fix the cracks.

He was right. I got the foundation fixed, he patched up the cracks, and they haven’t been back since.

The cracks I experienced on the wall of my home are a perfect visual image for the condition of our nation today. We can see “cracks” everywhere: social cracks, financial cracks, racial cracks, political cracks, moral cracks, even crack cocaine cracks. But until we stabilize the foundation, no government program, political platform or presidential election will be able to repair the cracks in our cultural walls.

Each member of the body of Christ, as well as the Church in general, must do a better job of reflecting the foundational values of the Kingdom of God.

If this is our problem, then it doesn’t really matter who we elect. If our relationship with God is the source of our cultural chaos, it doesn’t really matter what programs we put into place.

People are trying to force God’s will into a ballot box. They want a kingdom they can schedule, program and understand, thus putting their hopes in the political realm. But God warns us in 1 Samuel 8 not to put our faith in kings.

There is no such thing as salvation by government. No party platform holds the keys to all things moral. Both major political parties have their strengths and weak­nesses, depending on the issue.

The solutions to our nation’s problems will not primar­ily be found in the White House. Our solutions will first be found in God’s house because He is ultimately in charge.

This article is adapted from “Kingdom Citizen” by Dr. Tony Evans.

TheBlaze contributor channel supports an open discourse on a range of views. The opinions expressed in this channel are solely those of each individual author.

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