Why Grace-conscious Christians support President Trump (and why non-Christians should be encouraged by his rise to office)
Why Grace-conscious Christians support Trump
(and why non-Christians should be encouraged by his rise to office)
What is it about Trump that so many Christians are willing to support? It baffles many non-Christians, since it seems like his past is so antithetical to their Jesus-message. It even baffles some Christians, who have a hard time wrapping their minds around the percentages of believers who voted for (and still support) President Trump. How could they support someone with such a dubious past -- 2 failed marriages, a string of questionable business and relational dealings, entanglements with mammon and profit, a character that seems so unlike the polished image they want to believe of America and its history, especially as it was taught to them in grade school?
It has become more and more apparent to me that the underlying issue, which non-supporters fail to recognize is the true meaning of “grace” and how it manifests in the lives of people, whether they are Christian or not. The main reason that people have a hard time recognizing the value of Donald Trump is they have a difficult time having grace for themselves or other people. And by “grace” I don’t mean merely “forgiveness” or something to do with sin -- because that’s not the full meaning of grace. You can see how quickly some are to accuse and fault-find anything and everything he (or anyone who aligns with him) does. In essence, they don’t really try to see him from God’s perspective. The vast majority of professing Christians who berail him (and I haven’t seen these same people ever promote prayer FOR him) don’t have a grace-perspective -- they don’t even try to hear what God has to say about him. I wouldn’t want to be a part of a church led by this kind of perspective. Why? Because they operate more out of what I see the older brother doing in the parable of the prodigal son than I see them operating out of the Father’s heart. If they don’t know how to show honor to someone who holds the highest office in the United States (even if they disagree with him), then they certainly wouldn’t show any real honor to me (or God’s true purposes for me) either. The father in the parable called out the prodigal’s true identity, saw past his failures to his value, and bestowed on him honor, gifts, privilege and position that were undeserved. Meanwhile, the older brother stood in jealous disbelief that such a “scoundrel” would be thrown an extravagant party and given a robe and ring when he wasted his father’s inheritance on prostitutes and evil-worldly living. Wasn’t he the one who “never did anything wrong” (or at least not done all the horrible things his brother did)? Where was his party? His robe? Wasn’t the prodigal son just further taking advantage of the Father’s good nature and love? Jesus used this parable explicitly to point out the jealousy of the Pharisees -- the religious leaders of his day -- and how they responded to God’s extravagant display of grace toward returning prodigals. Jesus was spending much of his time with “sinners” who knew they needed grace, unloading the immeasurable riches of the Kingdom of God on them. But the religious leaders objected -- they were the key-holders to God’s message -- weren’t they? Why wasn’t God using them to perform miracles and demonstrating His power? Surely, if anyone could see when the Kingdom of God would truly come, they would, not some degree-less man from Galilee. The way they treated His followers followed suit.
“Grace” may still be a bit of a mystery to many people, including Christians. It evokes things such as the lyrics to “Amazing Grace” or addressing royalty as “your grace”. The book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace” graphically displays how the “worst of sinners” find refuge and a “fresh start” by placing their trust in Jesus. People like the Apostle Paul -- a man so full of pomp, circumstance, power, and religious zeal that he mowed over the early Christians like newly sprouted green grass -- didn’t understand grace until God miraculously converted and transformed him to pen most of the New Testament. Then Paul knew something about grace. Additionally, even Jesus Himself operated in a favor (“grace”) from the Father, and grew in this grace. So, it’s not just about forgiveness from sin. There’s more to it than that. Grace operates as God’s favor upon people in order to accomplish His purposes, even (at times) if they are not Christians.
As a general observation, I have seen that the kind of people who support Trump are “grace-conscious” people -- in other words, they realize they needed grace for all kinds of things they have done in life and cheer-on the prospect of someone who has made a string of mistakes in life and wants their life to count for something truly good. They are the kind of people who have been on the other end of accusations, condemnation, or gossip and understood what is like to be excluded from the sect of pious, religious community who simply wants them to fail in order to prove they were “right all along”. (“Religious people” doesn’t just include some people who call themselves Christians, but anyone who creates a system of judgments that are outside of God’s heart and intent -- outside the “law of Christ”). “Grace-conscious” people have failed in some way too big to have a clean record on their own, so they know they need the Savior. And still do. They make it a daily quest to lean more upon grace and His power, rather than their own. They can more easily see through religious charades and facades, or else through those who have a cloaked evil agenda, masked by clever deceptive twists of words and their meanings. They know what grace feels like in their life, so they are able to see and recognize when God’s grace is upon someone else as well.
On the other hand (again as a general observation), I have noticed two groups emerge that voice the loudest objections and strongest accusations against Trump. These are people who are mostly void of grace -- both for themselves and the world around them. (I’m sure there are other categories) but I’ve observed there are mainly two camps -- the kind of “Christians” who expect nothing but perfection (based upon their own pre-prescribed ideals) from their leadership and those who are trying to push society toward absolute godlessness and immorality through an anti-Christian agenda.
The first generally have a self-righteous bent, to some degree or another, still relying upon their good works and adherence to a set of prescribed merits to keep themselves feeling “justified,” while on the inside their soul is dying. In order to maintain this, one has to feel somewhat “above” -- that they’re not as bad as “those sinners”. When their righteousness (even after being “saved”) isn’t based upon what Jesus did for them, but rather upon what they’ve “done right” or are “doing right,” then they have no grace for themselves and no grace for others. Somehow, deep down inside, they still feel like their goodness has something to do with them. They haven’t come to a complete place of brokenness and failure that leaves nothing but God to rescue them. That is why all they can see is the pre-presidential Donald Trump who spent most of his life pursuing everything the world has to offer -- especially lust, mammon, power. They have a hard time seeing that Trump could actually be being used for good, in God’s sovereignty -- if they looked hard enough at what is actually being accomplished. They have yet to completely hear from the love-based, redemptive heart of God for themselves and the world around them.
The other group generally contains those who misunderstand grace and God’s forbearance and think it is a license for all kinds of immorality and godless behavior. They mistakenly believe they have no need for grace or forgiveness, because they don’t want to come clean with anything they’ve done. Instead in their “pride” they prop up themselves on a petistle where nothing is sacred. Ironically, their judgments, choices, and preferences become the basis of man-made “laws” (religion) by which they falsely condemn everyone around them. They hide behind their behavior and pretend it is normal (despite Science and common-sense that would say otherwise), while their conscience is screaming at them and they are loaded down with all kinds of guilt. So, they must attack anyone who would question what they do and everyone who ascribes to any kind or morality--anyone who would hold up a flag for true justice and mercy that protects the innocent and freedom to worship the one true God.
I would propose that Trump is a sign for this generation, if this generation will pay attention. He is a prototype of what God can do through anyone who has made too many mistakes in life to think that their life could still count for anything good. This is why the non-Christian world should see the circumstances behind Trump’s rise to office as a beacon of hope -- that if God could grace someone with as shadey of a past as Trump, then he could certainly use them too. And that, really, is the beauty of grace -- God favoring imperfect people to accomplish His will. His gifts, His callings, His anointing, are “without repentance” and often outside of our understanding. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He chooses the uneducated things of the world to confound the academics, the imperfect people to confound the religious, the weak to confound the strong. The whole Bible (and all of history) is full of them -- countless stories of people making dumb choices who have a heart to seek Him and somehow He still makes good out of it all. American history (and its leaders) aren’t as pretty as the elementary textbooks paint them to be. And yet, some remarkable things have been accomplished through the United States of America. By grace. This does not mean that everything that happens is de facto “God’s will”. But, there really is a difference between someone in a position of power who has their back turned away from God (living in utter rebellion) and another who is facing Him directly (face to face), despite what they may still not be doing exactly right. The spiritually mature understand this. Our goal is always to try to see others from His perspective, laying aside our own judgments and preconceived notions or those of others (maybe sometimes the media) to hear His voice and call all people into the original, eternal design and purpose for which they were created. All the more for someone who holds such great responsibility that affects all of us. May we once again be a nation that declares, “In God We Trust” and to voluntarily add to it, “Christ is our King.”
(and why non-Christians should be encouraged by his rise to office)
What is it about Trump that so many Christians are willing to support? It baffles many non-Christians, since it seems like his past is so antithetical to their Jesus-message. It even baffles some Christians, who have a hard time wrapping their minds around the percentages of believers who voted for (and still support) President Trump. How could they support someone with such a dubious past -- 2 failed marriages, a string of questionable business and relational dealings, entanglements with mammon and profit, a character that seems so unlike the polished image they want to believe of America and its history, especially as it was taught to them in grade school?
It has become more and more apparent to me that the underlying issue, which non-supporters fail to recognize is the true meaning of “grace” and how it manifests in the lives of people, whether they are Christian or not. The main reason that people have a hard time recognizing the value of Donald Trump is they have a difficult time having grace for themselves or other people. And by “grace” I don’t mean merely “forgiveness” or something to do with sin -- because that’s not the full meaning of grace. You can see how quickly some are to accuse and fault-find anything and everything he (or anyone who aligns with him) does. In essence, they don’t really try to see him from God’s perspective. The vast majority of professing Christians who berail him (and I haven’t seen these same people ever promote prayer FOR him) don’t have a grace-perspective -- they don’t even try to hear what God has to say about him. I wouldn’t want to be a part of a church led by this kind of perspective. Why? Because they operate more out of what I see the older brother doing in the parable of the prodigal son than I see them operating out of the Father’s heart. If they don’t know how to show honor to someone who holds the highest office in the United States (even if they disagree with him), then they certainly wouldn’t show any real honor to me (or God’s true purposes for me) either. The father in the parable called out the prodigal’s true identity, saw past his failures to his value, and bestowed on him honor, gifts, privilege and position that were undeserved. Meanwhile, the older brother stood in jealous disbelief that such a “scoundrel” would be thrown an extravagant party and given a robe and ring when he wasted his father’s inheritance on prostitutes and evil-worldly living. Wasn’t he the one who “never did anything wrong” (or at least not done all the horrible things his brother did)? Where was his party? His robe? Wasn’t the prodigal son just further taking advantage of the Father’s good nature and love? Jesus used this parable explicitly to point out the jealousy of the Pharisees -- the religious leaders of his day -- and how they responded to God’s extravagant display of grace toward returning prodigals. Jesus was spending much of his time with “sinners” who knew they needed grace, unloading the immeasurable riches of the Kingdom of God on them. But the religious leaders objected -- they were the key-holders to God’s message -- weren’t they? Why wasn’t God using them to perform miracles and demonstrating His power? Surely, if anyone could see when the Kingdom of God would truly come, they would, not some degree-less man from Galilee. The way they treated His followers followed suit.
“Grace” may still be a bit of a mystery to many people, including Christians. It evokes things such as the lyrics to “Amazing Grace” or addressing royalty as “your grace”. The book, “What’s So Amazing About Grace” graphically displays how the “worst of sinners” find refuge and a “fresh start” by placing their trust in Jesus. People like the Apostle Paul -- a man so full of pomp, circumstance, power, and religious zeal that he mowed over the early Christians like newly sprouted green grass -- didn’t understand grace until God miraculously converted and transformed him to pen most of the New Testament. Then Paul knew something about grace. Additionally, even Jesus Himself operated in a favor (“grace”) from the Father, and grew in this grace. So, it’s not just about forgiveness from sin. There’s more to it than that. Grace operates as God’s favor upon people in order to accomplish His purposes, even (at times) if they are not Christians.
As a general observation, I have seen that the kind of people who support Trump are “grace-conscious” people -- in other words, they realize they needed grace for all kinds of things they have done in life and cheer-on the prospect of someone who has made a string of mistakes in life and wants their life to count for something truly good. They are the kind of people who have been on the other end of accusations, condemnation, or gossip and understood what is like to be excluded from the sect of pious, religious community who simply wants them to fail in order to prove they were “right all along”. (“Religious people” doesn’t just include some people who call themselves Christians, but anyone who creates a system of judgments that are outside of God’s heart and intent -- outside the “law of Christ”). “Grace-conscious” people have failed in some way too big to have a clean record on their own, so they know they need the Savior. And still do. They make it a daily quest to lean more upon grace and His power, rather than their own. They can more easily see through religious charades and facades, or else through those who have a cloaked evil agenda, masked by clever deceptive twists of words and their meanings. They know what grace feels like in their life, so they are able to see and recognize when God’s grace is upon someone else as well.
On the other hand (again as a general observation), I have noticed two groups emerge that voice the loudest objections and strongest accusations against Trump. These are people who are mostly void of grace -- both for themselves and the world around them. (I’m sure there are other categories) but I’ve observed there are mainly two camps -- the kind of “Christians” who expect nothing but perfection (based upon their own pre-prescribed ideals) from their leadership and those who are trying to push society toward absolute godlessness and immorality through an anti-Christian agenda.
The first generally have a self-righteous bent, to some degree or another, still relying upon their good works and adherence to a set of prescribed merits to keep themselves feeling “justified,” while on the inside their soul is dying. In order to maintain this, one has to feel somewhat “above” -- that they’re not as bad as “those sinners”. When their righteousness (even after being “saved”) isn’t based upon what Jesus did for them, but rather upon what they’ve “done right” or are “doing right,” then they have no grace for themselves and no grace for others. Somehow, deep down inside, they still feel like their goodness has something to do with them. They haven’t come to a complete place of brokenness and failure that leaves nothing but God to rescue them. That is why all they can see is the pre-presidential Donald Trump who spent most of his life pursuing everything the world has to offer -- especially lust, mammon, power. They have a hard time seeing that Trump could actually be being used for good, in God’s sovereignty -- if they looked hard enough at what is actually being accomplished. They have yet to completely hear from the love-based, redemptive heart of God for themselves and the world around them.
The other group generally contains those who misunderstand grace and God’s forbearance and think it is a license for all kinds of immorality and godless behavior. They mistakenly believe they have no need for grace or forgiveness, because they don’t want to come clean with anything they’ve done. Instead in their “pride” they prop up themselves on a petistle where nothing is sacred. Ironically, their judgments, choices, and preferences become the basis of man-made “laws” (religion) by which they falsely condemn everyone around them. They hide behind their behavior and pretend it is normal (despite Science and common-sense that would say otherwise), while their conscience is screaming at them and they are loaded down with all kinds of guilt. So, they must attack anyone who would question what they do and everyone who ascribes to any kind or morality--anyone who would hold up a flag for true justice and mercy that protects the innocent and freedom to worship the one true God.
I would propose that Trump is a sign for this generation, if this generation will pay attention. He is a prototype of what God can do through anyone who has made too many mistakes in life to think that their life could still count for anything good. This is why the non-Christian world should see the circumstances behind Trump’s rise to office as a beacon of hope -- that if God could grace someone with as shadey of a past as Trump, then he could certainly use them too. And that, really, is the beauty of grace -- God favoring imperfect people to accomplish His will. His gifts, His callings, His anointing, are “without repentance” and often outside of our understanding. His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. He chooses the uneducated things of the world to confound the academics, the imperfect people to confound the religious, the weak to confound the strong. The whole Bible (and all of history) is full of them -- countless stories of people making dumb choices who have a heart to seek Him and somehow He still makes good out of it all. American history (and its leaders) aren’t as pretty as the elementary textbooks paint them to be. And yet, some remarkable things have been accomplished through the United States of America. By grace. This does not mean that everything that happens is de facto “God’s will”. But, there really is a difference between someone in a position of power who has their back turned away from God (living in utter rebellion) and another who is facing Him directly (face to face), despite what they may still not be doing exactly right. The spiritually mature understand this. Our goal is always to try to see others from His perspective, laying aside our own judgments and preconceived notions or those of others (maybe sometimes the media) to hear His voice and call all people into the original, eternal design and purpose for which they were created. All the more for someone who holds such great responsibility that affects all of us. May we once again be a nation that declares, “In God We Trust” and to voluntarily add to it, “Christ is our King.”
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