This Is the Way
Beyond Politics

by Robin Webber

America is now fully immersed in the sizzling summertime dynamics of its presidential election season. Every four years the political temperature in this country reaches the boiling point as partisan politics fan the flames of "party spirit."

This national spectacle has a wide-ranging global audience due to the reality that the individual who becomes president of the United States becomes the single most influential human being in the world for the next four years.

The stakes are high not only for America, but also for the rest of humanity. Unfortunately, today's partisan feelings seemingly run even higher as American society is basically split right down the middle as to the future course of the oldest of all modern-day republics.

A giant shadow

But was there ever a different time and style, before the coarseness of American politics created a split personality in the national psyche? Was there ever a time when people could basically agree on one man to lead them? Yes, there was, but we have to go back over 200 years to find it.

What was it that allowed the revolutionary Americans to even consider the office of the executive after they had just overthrown a monarchy? The answer comes down to one man and his extraordinary character.

His historical shadow still casts a giant silhouette from coast to coast across this republic. It is his name that dots the capital of his country. It is his monument that towers above all others in a city designed to showcase monuments. It is his name alone among all its presidents that is claimed by one of the 50 states.

Amazingly, it is this one individual and his character, not his party affiliation, that sculpted the job description of an executive office that had not yet been envisioned or implemented in the realm of human history. The office did not shape him. His lifetime values shaped the job description of what has become the most important job in the world. The man's name was George Washington.

Perhaps Leroy Brownlow sums it up best in his journal Today Is Mine in his entry for Feb. 22 titled "Worthy to Rule":

"When a man treasures the rights of men—as Washington did; and prefers principle to profit—as Washington preferred; and believes that man was not designed by the ‘All-wise Creator' to live for himself alone—as Washington believed; and is courageous enough to stand up to opposition—as Washington stood; and towers above trickery and partisanship—as Washington towered; and refused to be a king—as Washington refused; and trusts in ‘the All-wise Disposer of events'—as Washington trusted; and sees heroics in ragged men with a cause—as Washington saw—that man is truly worthy of rulership and a place in the hearts of his countrymen."

A guiding compass

Perhaps Washington's guiding compass of virtue and morality can best be discovered in his "Circular to the States," June 8, 1783. What were the pressing demands in that immediate moment of time? It was a period of dynamic infighting and increasing fragmentation as the various former colonies, now each independent states, but not yet a federal union, were being swayed by their own personal agendas. This vacuum of a functioning governmental structure could have had devastating results.

It was a time very similar to the period found in the book of Judges of which it was said, "In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).

Scripture not only shines a light on this period of darkness, but the history books clearly lay out a portrait of devastation in the wake of the French and Russian revolutions in which party spirit ripped the national fabrics asunder.

Washington understood the delicate and fragile moment at which he had been called to be a light in the darkness. It was at this crucial moment that he penned the following:

"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in His holy protection, that He would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field, and finally, that He would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in those things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation."

"What does the LORD require"?

Washington's prayerful plea is but an echo of the resonating virtues that God spotlights in Micah 6:8. Here we find a way of being, yes, a purpose beyond self, beyond party politics, beyond the ways of this world when left to its own devices. "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Because of these characteristics and more, Washington was elected by the people as the first executive officer of the grandest political experiment yet to occur in the course of human history.

But even so, when it is all said and done, Washington was a man. Like all men he had his faults and weaknesses, and like all men his time has come and gone. He left office worn out and troubled by the burgeoning nemesis of party factions that were emerging around Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

Oh, how we could use such a man today, even with all his humanity, to handle wisely and courageously the vexing problems of this irritated global village called earth. A person like Washington, who could rise above party spirit or the personal need to be reelected at whatever cost. A person unlike the proverbial politician who had changed his views rather radically and was being congratulated by a colleague who said, "I'm glad you've seen the light." The politician responded, "I didn't see the light. What I felt was the heat!"

Such a story adds meaning to God's Word as found in Psalm 146:3-4: "Do not put your trust in princes, nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; in that very day his plan perishes."

"I am the light of the world"

But there is good news. News beyond politics! News beyond the exploits of a human hero. World News and Prophecy is dedicated to the sure reality of the coming global emergence of the One who is beyond party affiliation. In fact, He is the "All-wise Creator" and "Disposer of Events" that Washington claimed as his guiding compass.

Infinitely greater than a thousand Washingtons is the One coming back to this earth, the Creator of life, the One who blessed the United States and its birth among the nations and who offers us a greater hope far beyond that which the best of men can possibly bequeath to us. Not merely one who has come "to see the light" or to be motivated by the heat of an upset electorate, but rather the very One who proclaims: "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Remember the incredible description by Leroy Brownlow regarding Washington? Well, look at what the Bible has to say about the soon-returning King of Kings, Jesus Christ, in Isaiah 11:1-5:

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist."

Being about the "humble imitation"

This is beyond man. This is beyond politics. But this is not beyond your ability to learn more, appreciate more and become a part of the greatest campaign in human history—the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

For now, it is spread (in the words of Washington) in "humble imitation" of the Divine Author. It is spread person by person, need by need and deed by deed.

It is a willingness to build bridges even over troubled waters, rather than to sustain the walls of fear, suspicion and self-proclaimed rightness. We find more than ample fertile ground for this campaign in our homes, offices, communities and congregations of worship. Why? Because party spirit, the spirit of politics, the spirit of "enemy formations of them vs. us," is always lurking within the recesses of every human heart.

It is in the words of one man, an individual who was not swayed by politics but by a visionary ideal, whose voice guides us to move above the roar of the crowd and the heat of the moment. His plea of civility is synonymous with the good walk as found in Isaiah 30:21 that cries out for those who will hear to follow: "This is the way, walk in it."

George Washington's was a way of life that acknowledged that God "would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind." Such a call to action awaits us. It is beyond the politics of today. But it is not beyond your ability to act—now!

 

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