January 20, 2021

Greetings fellow born-again followers of Jesus. I trust you are relying on the peace of Christ and his enduring kingdom today. I trust that you rest secure in God’s promises and the truth of the Holy Bible. I trust that you remain in a spirit of prayer today and every day.

I wanted to take a moment to write to fellow believers living in America. Our words and actions in the days ahead have potential to unify rather than divide. Our loyalty is first and foremost to King Jesus. We remain loyal to Jesus and his church. We appreciate and cherish the religious liberties we are blessed with in this great nation. Although we are only one nation under God’s watch care, we remain one nation under God.

Regardless who you voted for, President Joseph R. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are now the executive leaders of our country. I encourage you to pray intentionally for them and their staff in the days ahead. Whether you agree with their political ideologies, it is your duty as a citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom to intercede for those who lead us. Pray for our leaders to recognize with humility that they lead with limited power. God has entrusted our leaders with this great privilege, yet He remains the sovereign Lord of all. President Biden and Vice President Harris are wise to consider the words of the Psalmist in the second Psalm. My greatest prayer for our new president and vice president is that the Holy Spirit will put Gospel-centered and committed followers of Jesus in their paths and they too will become committed followers of Jesus through faith and repentance, that they will allow the Bible to guide them as they make decisions, set policies, and work collaboratively with the judicial and legislative branches. They will need God’s guiding hand as they seek to unify our very broken, yet still free nation.

Fellow Christians, the name of Christ has not been honored in our country. It is time for us to renew our commitment to Jesus and the Gospel. It is time to make clear that our identity as the people of God is not synonymous with our political party. We absolutely want our leaders to guard religious liberty and defend the constitutional rights of liberty and justice for all. We must make clear to the world that biblical Christianity is distinct in identity and function from political parties and figures. We must show the world the beauty of the Gospel in our public and private actions. We must ensure that our conduct is honorable among unbelievers. While we are all learning what it means to be the church during a pandemic, we are still the living Church, the body of Christ. We must return to our New Testament foundation and invite the Holy Spirit to transform and revive us.

I encourage all devoted disciples of Jesus to remember today that everything we have is a gift from God, including the freedom to worship freely. While our hearts are grieved over the pain, agony, and brokenness we have experienced personally and as a nation in the last year, we rest our hope on Jesus and the solid foundation of His Word. Although there is great uncertainty about the future, we have each other. WE have today. Let us be agents of change for the better as we are transformed by grace. Let us seek the good of our neighbors, communities, cities, our nation, and the world by living out our faith and seeking the renewal of the nation God has placed us in, for such a time as this.

The prophet Jeremiah offers a word of exhortation for the people of God. His exhortation is a fitting conclusion to this letter.

 “And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the LORD for it; for in its peace you will have peace.” (Jer 29:7 NKJV)