Originally published Nov. 2, 2016.

I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready for the political season to be over. One of the things I dislike the most about election season is how politicians feed off the anxieties and fears of the country. They try and convince you of a problem that may or may not exist, then tell you they are the answer (on a personal note I’m not sure any of our options are a real answer).

I want to encourage you this week, as the scandals continue to unfold and the commercials get worse, to look to the Lord for answers, not man. In the long run it doesn’t really matter who is elected, whether its the Republican, the Democrat, the Green Party or Libertarian Party. We will still have issues regardless of who our next president is. We will still have fears and we will still have anxieties about decisions being made in the other Washington.

Matthew 6:25-31, 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

In this scripture Jesus is talking to a people who are oppressed by the Roman empire and had much to be concerned about politically. There was no voting, for in those days they received the leader or governor who was appointed over them. The words of Jesus expressed his love and promise of care and provision for those who follow him.

His word to the people of the day is as true then as it is now. Don’t be anxious, trust in the Lord and let him care for you. You are more precious than the fields and more important than the birds. God is going to take care of us.

He goes on to say, “Seek first the Kingdom of God” and that is where our focus should be. I know I have my preferences on who I would like to be our elected officials but in the long run, my King never changes.

Marcus Kelly writes from New Life Foursquare Church