Two Southern Baptist Convention entities — the North American Mission Board and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — have issued a joint call for Southern Baptists to pray for repentance, revival and spiritual renewal in our nation.
Don KirklandThis emphasis, which is called the 40/40 Prayer Vigil for Spiritual Revival and National Renewal, will begin on Sept. 24 and conclude on Nov. 2, almost on the eve of the Nov. 4 Election Day.
The timing of the prayer emphasis is appropriate, and The Baptist Courier joins NAMB and the ERLC in summoning our people to a period of prayer for America’s spiritual welfare.
Hal Lane of Greenwood, the ERLC’s trustee chairman, pointed out in his statement to the Courier the importance of the upcoming presidential election and its bearing on our national life for years to come.
As Christians and as good citizens, Southern Baptists ought to turn out to voting places throughout our nation after giving prayerful thought to their selection for President.
The 40/40 Prayer Vigil, followed by the national election, also serves as a reminder of the Christian’s responsibility be engaged in our society for its good, rather than to be indifferent toward it or to withdraw from it.
Our involvement in the political process of our nation, and in our society at large, calls to mind the tension that exists between the people of God and the world he created.
Such tension is ageless, and thus it is endless. It will continue until the end of days.
It is the perennial Christian question: How do I as a believer relate to my culture, to society, to my world?
This tension is seen in the story of the Hebrew children as they entered and settled in the alien land of Canaan and struggled, often unsuccessfully, to remain faithful to their God.
Jesus experienced this tension as he confronted, and was confronted by, various Jewish sects which objected to his ministry and his message.
The apostle Paul surely felt the tension as he encountered a Greek and Roman culture that often had little use for his Christianity or for him.
Our Lord displayed a keen and sensitive awareness of the tension between the people of God and the world as he prayed for his disciples then, and his followers now, only hours before his death on the cross — believers who, like him, ?do not belong to the world.?
He did not ask his heavenly father to remove his disciples from the world, but to protect them from the evil one. His prayer did not give license to his disciples then, or now, to flee in fear or disgust from the world. His prayer was a command to go into the world and make others followers of Jesus.
As our Lord was then, so we are now ? in the world, but not of the world. Jesus expects us to do his will wherever we are, whether in the voting booth or in the workplace. Our religion must be true. Our witness must flow naturally out of each of us into all the relations of our lives for the purpose of transforming our world.